Circle City IN Pride Week starts Saturday!

This Saturday, the 26th Annual Circle City IN Pride celebration kicks off with the Rainbow 5K Run/Walk - but that's only just the beginning! The whole week is packed with events, activities, and more throughout the entire for everyone (even your pets!), all leading up to the Cadillac Barbie Pride Parade and Circle City IN Pride Festival.

Come join us on Saturday, June 14, for these two wonderful Pride events! We'll be there starting in the morning with a unit in the Cadillac Barbie Pride Parade, then we'll be setting up shop in the health fair in the main festival. Stop by our booth, which is number 235 by the main stage, to spin our prize wheel and chat with Damien Center staff and volunteers! Spend the day at the festival enjoying vendors, food, entertainment, and what's sure to be an outstanding festival once again.

Circle City IN Pride Festival
Saturday, June 14
American Legion Mall, Downtown Indianapolis
All Ages
Parade at 10am; Festival gates at 10am

Visit circlecityinpride.org for all the details!

Dine out for life on Thursday!

Do you like to eat dinner? How about breakfast or lunch? Yeah, we thought so. If you like to eat food, tomorrow is a GREAT day for you to support The Damien Center. It's Dining Out for Life! It's reaaaaalllyyy easy to give back to The Damien Center, because all you have to do is go out to eat at a participating restaurant! On top of that, 45 area restaurants are participating, and they stretch from Zionsville to Greenwood and everywhere in between.

So, how does it work? Participating restaurants will donate 25-100% of your bill to support The Damien Center and hundreds of people living with HIV/AIDS right here in our community. Supporting the fight against AIDS is as easy as grabbing a bite to eat—you don't have to mention the event, bring a flyer, or do anything else except buy a meal. At diningoutforlife.com/indianapolis, you can search by cuisine, location, donation amount and more to find the perfect Dining Out for Life restaurant for you. We've tried to make it as easy as possible for you to help fight AIDS in our community. Please help us make sure that no one faces AIDS alone by Dining Out for Life!

The generosity of our restaurant participants coupled with your additional donation will make a very real difference in the lives of thousands of men, women, and children throughout the region living with HIV and AIDS. Please join us for Indy's 20th Annual Dining Out for Life on Thursday, April 24, 2014!

Introducing, our wonderful sponsors!

We have to admit, Dining Out for Life is one of the most fun times of the year for us. We get to see an incredible coming together of volunteers, our own staff members, people who like going out to eat, our supporters in the community, and, of course, dozens of local businesses. On top of our 45 participating restaurants, we're incredibly lucky to count many wonderful local partners among our Dining Out for Life sponsors. Their support helps us maximize funds raised for this event, meaning that, you guessed it, more money raised goes straight to the local fight against HIV.

Without further adieu, we present our 2014 Dining Out for Life sponsors! These and our restaurants are the businesses you want to support throughout the year, the ones who are truly giving back to our community through this event and others. Cheers!

Drumroll please ... Announcing Dining Out for Life 2014 restaurants!

Where will YOU be dining out on April 24? Each of every one of the incredible restaurants below will be giving 25, 50, or 100% of your bill to The Damien Center and the local fight against HIV/AIDS, so pick a place, or two or three places, and get ready to EAT! It's as easy as it gets - no special menus, no flyers to present. All you have to do is eat, drink, and have a great time to help make our community healthier through what we do at The Damien Center. Read on for some great eats. Questions? Visit diningoutforlife.com/indianapolis for more info.

2014 Participating Restaurants

Champion Restaurants (Giving 100%)

135 N. Pennsylvania St., 2nd Floor | Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 672-7591 | Breakfast, Lunch


1043 Virginia Ave. #6 | Indianapolis, IN 46203
(317) 822-4764 | Lunch, Dinner, Late Night

Premier Restaurants (Giving 50%)

110 E. Washington St. | Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 822-9990 | Lunch, Dinner


822 N. Illinois St. | Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 636-5597 | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Late Night


765 Massachusetts Ave | Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 634-4545 | Lunch, Dinner, Late Night


906 S. Meridian St. | Indianapolis, IN 46225
(317) 636-0700 | Lunch, Dinner


707 Massachusetts Ave. | Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 639-6022 | Dinner, Late Night


1 N. Pennsylvania St. | Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 829-PITA (7482) | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner



2442 N. Central Ave. | Indianapolis, IN 46205
(317) 441-1047 | Lunch, Dinner



137 E. Ohio St. | Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 426-5280 | Lunch, Dinner


1417 Prospect St. | Indianapolis, IN 46203
(317) 917-1117 | Lunch, Dinner


755 Massachusetts Ave. | Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 634-4545 | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner


Partner restaurants (Giving 25%)
Arni's Restaurant Indianapolis
4705 E. 96th St. | Indianapolis, IN 46240
(317) 571-0077 | Lunch, Dinner

Arni's Restaurant Greenwood
1691 W. Curry Rd. | Greenwood, IN 46143
(317) 881-0500 | Lunch, Dinner

Athens on 86th
2284 W. 86th St. | Indianapolis, IN 46260
(317) 879-8644 | Lunch, Dinner

Beefcake Burgers
1642 Olive Branch Parke Ln. | Greenwood, IN 46143
(317) 215-4192 | Lunch, Dinner

BRU Burger Bar
410 Massachusetts Ave. | Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 635-4278 | Lunch, Dinner, Late Night

Café Patachou
8697 River Crossing Blvd. | Indianapolis, IN 46240
(317) 815-0765 | Breakfast, Lunch

Café Patachou
4901 N. Pennsylvania St. | Indianapolis, IN 46205
(317) 925-2823 | Breakfast, Lunch

Café Patachou
225 W. Washington St. | Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 632-0765 | Breakfast, Lunch

Canal Bistro
6349 Guilford Ave. | Indianapolis, IN 46220
(317) 254-8700 | Lunch, Dinner

Cerulean
339 S. Delaware St. | Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 870-1320 | Lunch, Dinner

Chef Joseph's at the Connoisseur Room
115 E. Ohio St. | Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 600-3577 | Lunch, Dinner

The Columbia Club
121 Monument Circle | Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 767-1361 | Lunch, Dinner

End of the Line Public House
1105 Shelby St. | Indianapolis, IN 46203
(317) 687-4857 | Lunch, Dinner

English Ivy's
944 N. Alabama St. | Indianapolis, IN 46202
(317) 822-5070 | Lunch, Dinner, Late Night

Greek's Pizzeria Zionsville
30 N. Main St. | Zionsville, IN 46077
(317) 344-2999 | Lunch, Dinner

Hellas Café
8501 Westfield Blvd. | Indianapolis, IN 46240
(317) 257-6211 | Lunch, Dinner

Just Pop In!
6302 Guilford Ave. | Indianapolis, IN 46220
(317) 257-9338 | Dessert

La Margarita Fountain Square
1043 Virginia Ave. | Indianapolis, IN 46203
(317) 384-1457 | Lunch, Dinner

Late Harvest Kitchen
8605 River Crossing Blvd. | Indianapolis, IN 46240
(317) 663-8063 | Dinner

The Legend Classic Irvington Café
5614 E. Washington St. | Indianapolis, IN 46219
(317) 536-2028 | Lunch, Dinner

Mama Irma's Restaurant
1058 Virginia Ave. | Indianapolis, IN 46203
(317) 423-2421 | Lunch, Dinner

Marco's Restaurant & Lounge
2380 E. 54th St. | Indianapolis, IN 46220
(317) 251-7000 | Lunch, Dinner

Mass Avenue Pub
745 Massachusetts Ave. | Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 974-0745 | Lunch, Dinner, Late Night

Mesh on Mass
725 Massachusetts Ave. | Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 955-9600 | Lunch, Dinner, Late Night

Monon Coffee Company in Broad Ripple
920 E. Westfield Blvd. | Indianapolis, IN 46220
(317) 255-0510 | Breakfast

Monon Coffee Company Downtown
2442 N. Central Ave. | Indianapolis, IN 46205
(317) 255-0510 | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

R bistro
888 Massachusetts Ave. | Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 423-0312 | Lunch, Dinner

Ralph's Great Divide
743 E. New York St. | Indianapolis, IN 46202
(317) 637-2192 | Lunch, Dinner

Recess and Room Four
4907 N. College Ave. | Indianapolis, IN 46250
(317) 925-7529| Dinner

Siam Square
936 Virginia Ave. | Indianapolis, IN 46203
(317) 636-8424 | Lunch, Dinner

Tini
717 Massachusetts Ave. | Indianapolis, IN 46202
(317) 384-1313 | Dinner, Late Night

Winner's Circle Pub, Grill & OTB
20 N. Pennsylvania St. | Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 656-7223 | Lunch, Dinner, Late Night

Yiayia's House of Pancakes
1694 W. Main St. | Greenwood, IN 46224
(317) 888-6800 | Breakfast, Lunch

Damienpalooza: Art + Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

According to CDC estimates, roughly 280,000 (or one in four) people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States are women, 15% of whom don’t know they’re infected. Damienpalooza 2014 will bring education and art under one roof as The Damien Center and collaborating artists focus the conversation on National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day through music, dance, theater, real-life testimonials, and more.

On March 8 - that's this Saturday! - we invite you to join us as we take in performances by dance company Create Freedom Arts Projects, local band I Dream in Evergreen, actress Ali Curtis of The Theatre Within, singer/songwriter Jamie Nichole, and spoken word artist Charlene White as well as the powerful story of Stephanie Brown from the Alicia Keys Empowered campaign. Stephanie contracted HIV as a young woman and has dedicated herself to fighting HIV and the stigma it carries. Inspired by art and moved by the stories of real women affected by HIV, we hope you'll leave empowered to take a stand for women and girls and informed about what they can do to fight HIV and its stigma in our community. 

The historic Athenaeum Theatre in Indianapolis will play host to Damienpalooza 2014, and the $5 admission fee as well as cash bar proceeds will benefit The Damien Center. Spirits Sponsor Ketel One supports The Damien Center throughout the year. We hope to see you there!  

Event                  Damienpalooza

Date/Time          March 8, 2014 at 7:30pm

Cost                    $5 (at the door)

Location             The Athenaeum Theatre, 401 E. Michigan St., Indianapolis 46204

Details                damien.org/damienpalooza       

It's National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

In 2013, more than 40% of individuals who got tested for HIV at The Damien Center were black.*

Black youth ages 13-24 represent 57% of all new HIV infections among young people.*

Blacks represent only 14% of the U.S. population, but 44% of all new HIV infections.*

Do we have your attention yet? Today is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and it's time for us all to take a closer look at how HIV and AIDS affect the black community. It deserves our attention. Whether you're black or white or Latino or from Mars, it's easy to see that this issue is important not just in the United States, but right here in our community.

Stigma, socioeconomic factors, high prevalence of STDs, and drug use are just a few of the complex issues that the black community faces in the fight against HIV.

Learn more and find out what you can do at blackaidsday.org/.

*CDC Fact Sheet - HIV and AIDS among African Americans

Dining Out for Life Call-out: Restaurants and Ambassadors, we need you!

In just over three months, you can be a hero. OUR hero! It's the 20th anniversary of Indy's largest dining fundraiser, Dining Out for Life, which raises much-needed funds to help us continue to fight HIV in our community and support those affected by it. Maybe you already know how it works, but if not, crash course: 40+ local restaurants sign on to give us a percentage of their proceeds (25, 50, or 100%) for ONE day (Thursday, April 24), and it's awesome. Hands down one of the easiest ways you can help us do what we do is just to go out to eat at one of our restaurants (check out 2013 participants here: diningoutforlife.com/indianapolis/restaurants). You don't even have to mention the event - our restaurants agree to give us a percentage of ALL sales on April 24.

BUT. We also know there are some of you out there who want to take your commitment up a notch, and for that we present: Ambassadorship. Ambassadors are our stellar volunteers who spend a couple hours on April 24 at one of our restaurants telling people about HIV and The Damien Center and helping raise additional moolah. If it sounds daunting, don't worry. As long as you can commit to a training session and a shift on the day of the event, we'll make sure you're equipped with knowledge, materials, scripts, and action plans to be successful.

And restaurant owners? You're another critical cog in this amazing Dining Out for Life machine. In exchange for your incredible generosity in giving us a percentage of your proceeds, we do everything we can think of to get your name out there. We put up posters, tweet out tweets, run ads, leverage our word-of-mouth network, and put our Ambassadors (see above) to work recruiting diners for your restaurant. And besides the warm fuzzies you'll get from knowing you did something pretty awesome for your community, we'd like to add that some of our established Dining Out for Life restaurants report that they're not only busy the day of the event - they also see a lot of return business from DOFL customers, who honor their community-minded spirit all year long.

Ready to learn more? Potential Ambassadors, learn more and sign up here: diningoutforlife.com/indianapolis/volunteer. Restaurant owners, here: diningoutforlife.com/indianapolis/sign-up-your-restaurant

Thanks in advance for being our hero!

News roundup: HIV in the headlines

We like to think we're pretty lucky. As an HIV/AIDS service organization, not only do we get to do meaningful work that makes an actual difference in the lives of people affected by HIV, but also we get to see changes happening in our field on an almost constant basis. Yeah, some of them don't pan out the way we think they will, but we're encouraged to see scientists trying new approaches to finding a vaccine or cure for HIV. We're also encouraged to see more and more people engaging with the cause to end HIV/AIDS and support those living with it, eradicate the stigma surrounding HIV, remember those who have lived and died with HIV/AIDS, and have tough conversations about sex, HIV, and how it all fits together.

We also know the news is hard to keep up with, so we're going to be collecting and sharing some top headlines for you more often in 2014. Our hope is that you'll take a few minutes to see what's happening with HIV around the globe. Please keep in mind that by sharing these links, we are in no way making endorsements.

Encouraging First-Year Results for the "Increasing Access to HIV Care and Treatment" Initiative
Blog.AIDS.gov - January 3, 2014

HIV returns in two patients after bone marrow transplant 
CNN.com - December 9, 2013

Life Expectancy for North Americans With HIV Reaches Historic High
TheBodyPro.com - December 19, 2013

New Studies Unlock Mystery Of How HIV Causes AIDS
HuffingtonPost.com - December 19, 2013

Women with bisexual partners account for new HIV cases: study
NYPost.com - January 1, 2014

Taking HIV prevention pill may not encourage risky sex: U.S. study
Reuters.com- December 18, 2013

Happy reading, and Happy New Year!

Top Posts of 2013

We've had a fun year with you, blog-readers. We've chatted about what pizza has to do with our food pantry, the 44 amazing restaurants that gave back through Dining Out for Life, and our insanely awesome volunteers, who keep things chugging along. Plus, we got excited about chili and tried to convince you to volunteer once. Okay, maybe twice. We also touched on some really serious and important topics, like what one incredible young woman is doing to fight HIV stigma in our community, how we're working to support high-risk groups, and what our strategy is for successfully preventing the spread of HIV and empowering those affected by it.      

So, we thought it'd be fun to look back and see what your favorite posts were this year. Take a read through these top posts, and then tell us what you'd like to read about in 2014. Enjoy!

Top Posts of 2013 

5. Forty Five Degrees, Yogulatte owner long-time Damien supporter - April 23, 2013

4. Go see Naked Boys Singing and support The Damien Center! - February 8, 2013

3. Costume Ideas: The Disco Ball Edition - September 24, 2013

2. Why Santorini Greek Kitchen gives back - April 5, 2013

1. Do you need to get linked? - May 30, 2013

Cooking Up Some Fun: Chili Cook-Off, Round Three!

What goes better with a Saturday night in late November than 20+ crock pots full of chili? Raising money to fight HIV, of course! Coming up on its third year, the annual Chili Cook-Off is just two days away, and believe us, the chili is calling your name. There will be sweet chili, savory chili, hearty chili, meaty chili, and veggie chili, plus chili that will blow your idea of spicy out of the proverbial water. Which you will need. For the spice.

But don't worry, even if you don't dig the spiciest of spicy, there will be a chili for you. And just to add some old-fashioned competition, you'll also be voting for your favorites. Join us! Come to Indy's Kitchen, bring a suggested donation of $25, and eat until you're content. Beverages will be provided. Thanks to our host and generous board member Clinton Gruettert!

What: 3rd Annual Chili Cook-Off (Damien Center Benefit)

When: Saturday, November 23, 7-9:30pm

Where: Indy's Kitchen, 2442 Central Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46205

More details and to RSVP