Make your reservations now!

Dining Out for Life in a nutshell: eat out, fight AIDS. It's that simple.

Eat at one of our 45 participating restaurants, and 25% - 50% of your bill goes to The Damien Center. There's no code to mention, no special menus - just do what you would normally do!

Additionally, you can win cool prizes, like the Hoosier Park Package or the Celebrate Indy Package. These packages contain hotel stays, VIP tickets to Hoosier Park, IRT ticket vouchers, private happy hour parties, and more! All you need to do is fill out a form at one of our participating restaurants - no donation is required to enter. Just check the box, give us your name and some way to contact you, and you're entered into our drawing!

The following is a list of all our participating restaurants:

Premier Restaurants are restaurants who donate 50% of their day's sales to The Damien Center. Our Premier Restaurants include:

Legacy Restaurants are restaurants who have participated in DOFL for 5 or more years. Our Legacy Restaurants include:

Adobo Grill

Agio

Amici's
Arni's
Athens on 86th

Bazbeaux

Cafe Patachou

Downtown Olly's

English Ivy's

Greek Islands
Hellas

Iaria's Italian Restaurant

Marco's Restaurant and Lounge
Metro Nightclub & Restaurant
R bistro

Ralph's Great Divide

Santorini Greek Kitchen

Partner Restaurants are restaurants that donate 25% of their day's sales to The Damien Center. Our Partner Restaurantsinclude:

501 Eagle

Aesop's Tables
Agio
Amici's
Arni's - North
Arni's - South
Athens on 86th
Bazbeaux - Broad Ripple
Bazbeaux - Carmel
Bazbeaux - Downtown
Cafe Patachou - 49th and Penn
Cafe Patachou - River Crossing
Cafe Patachou - Carmel
Cafe Patachou - Downtown
Circle City Bar & Grill - Indy Mariott Downtown
Creation Cafe
English Ivy's
Euphoria
Greek Islands
Hellas
Henry's on East
Hoaglin To Go - Indiana History Center
Hoaglin To Go - Mass Ave
Hue Dine
Iaria's Italian Restaurant
Mama Carollas

Marco's Restaurant and Lounge
Mesh on Mass
Metro Nightclub & Restaurant
Puccini's Smiling Teeth - East 82nd
Puccini's Smiling Teeth - Fall Creek
R bistro
Ralph's Great Divide
Recess
Red Lion Grog House
Served
Square Rootz Deli

Tastings

The Legend Cafe

Welcome our new staff!

In the past month, we have been fortunate to have new hires to help with our expanding programs. We'd like to welcome Ronny, and Jeremy to the Damien family! For more information about these individuals, please visit our staff page.

Ronny deLuna:

Ronny has a background in administration and patient relations. He is fluent in Spanish and often serves as a translator for the departments he works for. Having worked with the MCHD and Wishard hospital, Ronny is eager to offer his experience to The Damien Center and its clients as the Administrative Assistant.

Ronny enjoys spending his free time with his partner, family and friends.

Jeremy Turner:

Jeremy serves as the Client Services Enrichment Coordinator. In the new position, Jeremy will oversee operations in the Damien Center's Coby Palmer Food Pantry, plan and execute client-centered events, and work closely with the Client Service Committee to ensure the ongoing collaboration between the Damien Center and its client base.

Jeremy comes to the Damien Center from other AIDS service organizations in Southern Indiana (AIDS Resource Group) and Western Kentucky (Matthew 25 AIDS Services.) Jeremy is a former Prevention Program Coordinator, Red Cross HIV 101 Instructor, certified Indiana HIV Testing Counselor, “Street Smart” certified program facilitator, “Many Men, Many Voices” certified program facilitator and a recipient of community awards and accolades relating to his youth-based HIV and Substance Use prevention programs. In addition to prevention efforts, Jeremy has experience in grant writing, event/ fundraiser planning and agency food pantry operations.

Recently having relocated to Indianapolis from Evansville, Jeremy looks forward to using his background to help enhance Damien Center clients’ overall experience at the agency. In his free time Jeremy enjoys jogging, playing the piano and performing. Be sure to stop by his new office in the food pantry to say “hello!”

March Volunteer Spotlight - Betty S!

This month's volunteer spotlight is Betty S! Betty has been volunteering with The Damien Center since 2007 and has been very involved is us ever since. She has trained other volunteers and has been an active part of our outreach efforts, working booths at health fairs. She consistently works both the front desk and the testing reception desk, and she has been involved with both of our annual fundraisers: Dining Out for Life and Grande Masquerade.

Here's a look at Betty:

1. Have you ever held a volunteer position before?

For years I was a volunteer at Second Presbyterian Church, where I am now employed as a Christian Educator.

2. What sparked your interest in volunteering with the Damien Center?

In 1995, I learned for the first time that my brother was HIV+. Several weeks later, he was hospitalized with late stage AIDS. A friend brought me to the Damien Center’s support group, where I learned what to expect and how to respond to my brother’s illness. I could not have handled it without their help. During my visits with David, I was able to talk about difficult subjects. He was so afraid of being turned away, but he died knowing that all of us in our family loved him and always had. I am here to repay a long overdue debt to the Center for helping us give David peace before he died.

3. How do you hope to serve the community and our clients here at the Damien Center?

One thing I hope to do is raise the consciousness of the public about HIV and remove its stigma. I do that by teaching HIV 101 to students and volunteers and by answering the phone at the testing desk once a week. I also man the table at health fairs when my schedule permits. It’s a great way to meet the public and answer questions.

4. What has been your most memorable moment while volunteering at the Damien Center?

The real payoff is the relationships I build with the staff and clients at the Damien Center. That said, one of my greatest moments was when I won the costume contest at the Grande Masquerade in 2009. I couldn’t believe it! I will never forget having hundreds of gay men applaud when I stepped up as “Starlet O’Hara” in the green curtain dress. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would win against some of those amazing and complex costumes that appear every year. (Even if you don’t dress in costume, volunteering there is some of the most fun you will ever have. I highly recommend it.)

5. What are some attributes that you feel you contribute to the Damien Center and your assigned position?

A lot of people don’t realize that I am an introvert; but I am proof you don’t have to be an extrovert to volunteer. I am driven by a desire to make a change in the way people with HIV are dealt with by the public and by public officials. In my very small way, I hope to make a difference by respecting the dignity and humanity of those with HIV.

6. What are your hobbies and interests?

I work at a church and love astronomy--and thus have both a vocation and avocation that bring conversation to a complete halt. (“Look at the time!”) I’m a certified scuba diver in search of warm water. And I am a “token straight” contributor to The Bilerico Project, an online group blog for LGBT interests. I love my life and the people in it, especially my sweet and patient husband of 32 years and my two wonderful children.

Thank you so much, Betty!

New Facebook Page

We're moving from our old profile to our new Page! This transition was spurred by Facebook's new update to Pages, letting us do more than ever before.

One of new Page features that we're particularly excited about is the ability to interact with other areas of Facebook as our brand. Before, this was something that was exclusive to profiles. Now, we can go to Indiana AIDS Walk's Page and let them know that Team Damien Center is going to be there! Our Page can go on to Like Nuvo, or tag GayIndy.com in one of our posts. Almost every reason that made us keep a profile is now made available to Pages.

But there's more. With a Page, we're able to surpass the 5,000-friend limit imposed on profiles, add and build our own apps, and get behind-the-scenes insights on who each of our messages reach. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

We'll delete our current profile once our new Page gains Fans and momentum, so be sure to Like our Page to get the latest updates in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Indianapolis!

Ambassador Trainings

Dining Out for Life relies heavily on its Ambassadors - volunteers stationed at one of our many, wonderful restaurants! It is important that every Ambassador attend a training - even if you've been an Ambassador before. We have some new, exciting parts of this event, and we don't want our Ambassadors to miss out! If you would like to help out with the largest restaurant event in Indianapolis, come to a training on:

• Thursday, March 31 from 9-11
• Thursday, March 31 from 6-8
• Saturday, April 2 from 10-2
• Tuesday, April 5 from 6-8

Please RSVP by calling Naomi at 317-632-0123 x262 or by emailing her at nwilliams@damien.org.

February Volunteer Spotlight - Phil G!

This month's volunteer spotlight is Phil G! Phil has been a long-time volunteer at The Damien Center, and he did a fantastic job in our new Speakers Bureau! Phil spoke on behalf of The Damien Center at Epworth United Methodist Church. This was the first speaking engagement for the Speaker's Bureau, and Phil did it admirably. You can often find Phil at the testing reception desk.

Have you ever held a volunteer position before?

No, nothing like this.

How do you hope to serve the community and our clients here at The Damien Center?

By doing whatever is needed of me, and attempting to further the mission.

What experience would you like to gain from your volunteer position here?

I'm not sure. I've done everything but clean the bathrooms!

What are some attributes that you feel you contribute to The Damien Center in your assigned position?

A smile in by voice and my heart, and an open mind.

What are your hobbies and interests?

• Working on my home and gardening
• Genealogy
• Crochet - I'd like to be more adept at it
• Working out at the gym and bicycling
• Purdue football
• Loving my family

Sneak Peek at our 2010 Report!

We're still processing some data for our 2010 Annual Report, but here is a sneak peek some exciting statistics that will be included!

• 98% of our clients rate their overall satisfaction of our food pantry as either neutral, somewhat satisfied, or highly satisfied. 78% of our clients said they were highly satisfied.
• Of our clients who responded to our survey and visited other food pantries in the Indianapolis area, 82.5% believe that our food pantry is at least as good, if not better, than other food pantries.
• The food pantry was accessed 4,416 times in 2010 and distributed 154,560 pounds of food.
• In 2010, we administered over 1,500 free HIV tests. Compared to the 974 free HIV tests administered in 2009, this is an increase of over 54%!

Naughty or Nice: A Smash Hit

On December 21, 2010, the National Touring Cast of Wicked put on a Christmas Cabaret to benefit The Damien Center's Coby Palmer Food Pantry Fund and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. This event raised $5,350 - the most money any of these events has ever made!

New Staff!

The Damien Center would like to congratulate Jamie Broderick for her promotion to Care Coordination Program Manager! Jamie will directly oversee the care coordination staff and leads our interdisciplinary team to develop, implement, and monitor client services. She will train and supervise new care coordinators in accordance with our agency's training curriculum, and she will participate in evaluative and quality assurance activities to ensure professional accountability to the agency, funders, and clients served.


Jamie originally joined the Damien Center staff in March 2010 as a Care Coordinator. Jamie started her career after college at Denver Health and Authority. She worked on a CDC funded HIV prevention counseling study called Project Respect 2. The study compared different forms of HIV testing and risk reduction counseling in clients at STD clinics throughout the United States. From Denver, Jamie moved to New Jersey and took a position as a Ryan White Title II case manager in Asbury Park, NJ. There she assisted clients with their day to day needs including housing, transportation, medical, etc. Building on her case management experience, she was fortunate enough to accept a position at the National AIDS Treatment Advocacy Project as a treatment educator in all 5 boroughs of New York City. NATAP is a leader in up-to-the-minute HIV treatment information covering the latest in drug development and research. Before moving back home to Indiana, Jamie was promoted to Director of Programs at the New Jersey Women and AIDS Network in New Brunswick, NJ where she helped to implement the SISTA Project.

After arriving in Indiana, Jamie has been working in tobacco control for the Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Agency. She was the Director of Programs for the Central West region and is also currently the coordinator for the Boone County Tobacco Free Coalition. Jamie started OUT Against Tobacco, a small group of tobacco control advocates that assist the LGBT community to fight back against the tobacco industry.

In her free time, Jamie likes to read, officiate women's basketball, and spend time with her partner and 3 kids.

January Volunteer Spotlight: Sara Bruhn

This month's volunteer spotlight is Sara Bruhn! Sara was trained in October 2010, and she has since worked at health fairs and our food pantry. Sara did an outstanding job representing The Damien Center for Latino HIV/AIDS Awareness Day at Casa Mateo with her Spanish fluency.

Have you ever held a volunteer position before?

I volunteered sporadically in college…I volunteered for a semester in the program College Mentors for Kids for local schoolkids.

What sparked your interest in volunteering with the Damien Center? How do you hope to serve the community and our clients here at the Damien Center?

I’ve been especially interested in the HIV/AIDS cause ever since I took a class in college that dealt with the social aspects and stigmas associated with HIV/AIDS and I found the Damien Center online while looking for some opportunities for volunteer work after college. I hope to serve the community and our clients by helping staff events, spread awareness, and helping to provide a sense of support to those affected by HIV/AIDS.

What experience(s) would you like to gain from you volunteer position here?

I’d like to gain a more in-depth understanding of how HIV/AIDS affects individuals and societies and how we can band together more as a society to prevent further infections and provide support to those currently affected.

What are some attributes that you feel you can contribute to the Damien Center?

I’m perceptive, a hard-worker, and I speak decent Spanish.

What are your hobbies and interest?

Traveling, foreign affairs, soccer, shopping