Back-Yard Bash Raises Funds for AIDS Care
The Pacific Center for Counseling and Psychotherapy, an organization that serves HIV-infected individuals, held a major fund-raiser Thursday night at the Westside home of actress Heather Thomas and attorney Skip Brittenham.
The evening honored Dr. Joel Weisman, chairman of the board of directors for the American Foundation for AIDS Research, and one of the first practitioners to identify the syndrome in the early 1980s.
According to AIDS researcher and AMFAR founding co-chairman Dr. Mathilda Krim, who presented the award, Weisman has cared personally for one-quarter of all people diagnosed with AIDS in Los Angeles County.
After a silent auction on the front patio, honorary dinner co-chairman Tony Danza greeted a crowd that included Dr. Michael Moret, chairman of the Pacific Center’s board of directors, and Pacific Center executive director and co-founder Robert Furse, as well as actors Don Johnson, Corbin Bernsen, Lily Tomlin and Richard Chamberlain, Susie and Ted Field, International Creative Management president Jim Wiatt, and AIDS specialist Dr. Michael Roth.
Since its founding 3 1/2 years ago, the Pacific Center has grown to encompass 200 licensed therapists caring for 600 to 800 clients at any time. It’s the only organization in the country offering free, long-term, one-on-one therapy for HIV-infected people, according to Moret.
Mark Bard, one of the center’s clients, felt lucky to be at the event. Two days before, he had been discharged from the hospital. Bard, who has no insurance, rated the center’s services as “excellent. I’ve never dealt with any AIDS organization in town where there haven’t been any complaints (except for the Pacific Center).”
As the only survivor of his AIDS support group, Bard entered into individual therapy feeling like “the last person on night patrol in Vietnam. I wanted a therapist who is going to be a little bit confrontive with me. The fear is worse than the AIDS.”
After dinner in the back yard, the evening concluded with a vintage set of music from rhythm and blues legend Etta James.