L.A. Marathon to Benefit AIDS Center

The Gathering Place, a daytime drop-in center for people affected by HIV and AIDS, has been chosen as an official Los Angeles Marathon charity for the second straight year and is seeking fund-raising volunteers.

The center, at 3860 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., provides services to 500 to 600 people a month--a 200% increase from last year, said director Sheila DeGruy. The clients--mostly women and children--and their friends and families are provided nutritional counseling, massage therapy, a reference library, peer group counseling and other support.

With an annual operating budget of $109,000 and only seven employees, the center is having trouble keeping up with the demand for its services, DeGruy said. “We’re looking for a larger space because we no longer have enough room for all our clients.”

Last week about 35 business, political and health-care organization representatives attended the center’s first corporate awareness day at the Department of Water and Power building in Crenshaw. The event, which kicked off the center’s annual fund-raising campaign, was a chance to explain the services it provides to the community.

As one of the 52 L.A. Marathon charities, the center is sponsoring Mile 21 of the run: Crenshaw Boulevard from Pico to Venice boulevards. It is seeking business donors and more runners in addition to the six who have already agreed to race March 7 on the center’s behalf, DeGruy said.

She also sees the marathon as an opportunity for the center to heighten AIDS awareness. “A lot of people in South-Central still don’t think that AIDS is their problem,” DeGruy said. “We want to bring the AIDS issue to light.”

Information: (213) 295-2687.