Countywide : 11 AIDS-Related Groups to Get Funds

AIDS Walk Orange County, a fund-raising organization that last year donated $360,000 to AIDS-related groups, has announced the names of 11 groups that will receive money this year.

Topping the list is AIDS Response Program, a branch of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center in Garden Grove, which will receive the largest slice of the pie, said Joann Ruden, director of the fund-raising group.

“They reach out to the very high-risk population,” gay men and youth, she said.

The exact amount each group will receive is unknown because AIDS Walk Orange County cannot predict how much money it will raise during this year’s walk. So most groups selected are awarded a percentage of the proceeds.

This year, the group’s evaluation committee considered applications from 17 nonprofit groups in Orange County.

Last year, controversy erupted when Laguna Shanti, one of the county’s three largest AIDS service organizations and one that was in dire financial straits, did not receive funds. Later, AIDS Walk Orange County awarded a special $10,000 grant to the Laguna Beach center.

Laguna Shanti was not chosen to receive funds this year because it was among five groups vying for money to fund an educational outreach program for HIV-infected women, Ruden said. The committee selected HIV: Women’s Voices, a program created by Valerie Gold-Neil, a Laguna Beach psychologist who runs a support group for women infected with the virus.

When several groups submit proposals for similar projects, AIDS Walk Orange County awards funds to only one of the applicants to avoid duplication of services, Ruden said.

Laguna Shanti director Judith Doyle said the center wasn’t distressed by not being chosen this year because it expects to get funding from a variety of other sources.

“This will not put us out of business,” Doyle said. “We have a fund development committee that’s working diligently to come up with different sources of income.”

Also receiving funds in October will be: Irvine-based AIDS Services Foundation, the county’s largest AIDS service organization; American Red Cross, Orange County Chapter, which has a program to train AIDS educators; Annie’s House, a new Costa Mesa residential care facility for those infected with the AIDS virus; Christ Chapel, Metropolitan Community Church in Santa Ana, which has a program that gives teddy bears to people with the virus; Names Project Orange County, which has created a memorial quilt for victims of the disease; Orange County Center for Health in Anaheim, which offers an AIDS education program targeting Latinos; Shelter for the Homeless in Westminster, which provides housing and counseling for HIV-infected drug users; UCI College of Medicine, which is conducting immune system research; and UCI AIDS Education Program.

Since its inception six years ago, the nonprofit AIDS Walk Orange County has raised $1.5 million for AIDS-related organizations. This year, the walk is set June 13.