Mosaic, outreach lift up HIV-AIDS ministry in September
This September, Saint Philip’s members, neighbors , and friends, have multiple opportunities to learn about and support an organization that Saint Philip’s has worked with on a regular basis: the Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network (TIHAN).
Plan to attend Mosaic Community Night on Wednesday, September 2, for a presentation by TIHAN’s Executive Director Scott Blades. Contribute to TIHAN’s September Poz Café by bringing cleaning products and/or personal hygiene items to the First Sunday Drive between 1:00pm-3:00pm on September 6. Contributions can still be collected until September 16.
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You can learn more about the work of TIHAN on Wednesday, September 2, when TIHAN Executive Director Scott Blades will give a presentation for Mosaic Community Night. Evening Prayer is at 5:30pm, and Scott’s presentation on TIHAN and living with HIV/AIDS in a pandemic will start at 6:00pm You may not know that Arizona ranks 15th among 50 states in the number of people living with HIV. Or that the number of Black women in Arizona living with HIV is 11.3 times higher than white women. Or that 47% of new HIV infections in Pima County are in people of color. So HIV/AIDS is very much at the intersection of health care and issues of racial inequality that parishioners have been learning about and discussing during the past weeks.
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And you will have opportunities on Sunday, September 6, between 1:00pm-3:00pm, as well as Tuesdays and Thursdays, between 9:00am - 12:00pm, through September 16, to contribute the following items to TIHAN:
cleaning products (preferably 1/2-gallon containers of bleach or similar cleaner;
as well as anti-bacterial wipes); and,
personal hygiene items (toilet tissue, toothpaste, feminine hygiene products, soap, shampoo, etc.)
On September 6, between 1:00pm-3:00pm, volunteers from the Feeding Ministry Working Group will collect your drive-up donations outside the East Gallery. If you can’t make it on September 6, you can still drop off your contributions at the church office on Tuesday or Thursday between 9:00 and 12noon through September 16.
Your contributions will be used in CarePackages for TIHAN’s September 17 Poz Café. Normally, Poz Café, which Saint Philip’s takes a turn at hosting, is a once-monthly afternoon of good food, games, a raffle and distribution of CarePackages. But because of COVID-19, Poz Café is being held in a drive-through format.
(PLEASE NOTE that an earlier request for contributions of adult and infant diapers for Interfaith Community Services is postponed until October’s First Sunday Drive. Look for information closer to October 4.)