THUNDER BAY -- Elevate NWO's Red Scarf Campaign is a thread nearly a year long and the yarn it's spinning is awareness about HIV and AIDS.
The organization that was known as AIDS Thunder Bay until 2013 launched a challenge on Dec. 2, 2015 setting itself a goal of 250 scarves by World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, 2016.
Elevate NWO representatives donated the first of those scarves to members of city council at a meeting on Monday. Elevate community developer Tonya Muchano is hoping locals connect with the cause.
"We’re going to be distributing them in high-visibility locations so along streets, in bus stations, we’re going to be distributing them at the event that we have, distributing them on outreach to get as many people as we can wearing red scarves and we’d like people – if they find them – to take them home and post pictures of themselves wearing the red scarves on World AIDS Day," Muchano said.
The new office at 106 Cumberland Street will host the Dec. 1 World AIDS Day event from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Elevate NWO executive director Holly Gauvin said December will be pivotal for the organization and its new space as it intends to launch the Gay Men's Sexual Health Clinic. The three-hour clinic and pharmacy will take place once a month. Along with tests for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), she's
Men who have sex with men are 71 times more likely to contract HIV than any other population, she pointed out. Considering the infection is most likely spread among those who don’t know they have it, Gauvin is promoting sexually-transmitted infectino testing, anti-retroviral medications, safe sex education and men's health discussions in a social environment.
"We recently conducted a research study across five communities and in all five communities, every single participant said that there’s no place for gay men to just get together and hang out," Gauvin said.
"This will provide a little bit of an opportunity for socializing as well as talking about gay men’s sexual health and harm reduction and how to take the best possible care for themselves as well as their partner.
"So people might go in for testing one month, they might come for the social component the next month. Or some people may just come in to have routine testing but also come in to enjoy some coffee talk and talk about harm reduction and gay men’s sexual health."
