Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Miami Herald - Wednesday, April 17, 2002
Steve Rothaus, srothaus@herald.com
"Last year, we saw almost 15,000 clients, and almost 40,000 individual times people showed up at our door in need," said Rick Siclari, Care Resource's executive director. "It's been consistently increasing, about 12 percent to 15 percent annually. My money isn't increasing in proportion. That's the problem."
Sunday's 14th annual AIDS Walk in South Beach will help, but probably not as much as Siclari had hoped. There are several factors:
- Corporate donations are being siphoned by an increasing number of other charitable walk-a-thons.
"The AIDS Walk is a wonderful event because of its visibility," Siclari said. 'But walks in general have had their challenges. There are many, many, many walks. I sympathize with people who say, `My company used to do the AIDS Walk. Now, they do seven others.' "
- Most charities have suffered since the terrorist attacks in September.
"After 9/11, we're feeling it like everyone else," Siclari said. "People aren't giving like they used to. Our database is of about 20,000 donors. We do have corporate support, but it's way off."
- Gay givers -- the base of Care Resource's community funding -- are raising money for the fall electoral battle over Miami-Dade County's human-rights ordinance.
"This year is the lowest level I've raised, because I'm raising money for SAVE Dade," said Miami attorney Richard Milstein, who so far is 2002's top individual AIDS Walk fundraiser.
"I've normally raised $20,000 to $25,000 a year," Milstein said. As of Monday, he had $6,508 in pledges.
Still, he was far ahead of the walk's second-highest fundraiser, Care Resource employee Debbie Rolle, who had $2,482 in pledges.
This year's AIDS Walk features Grand Marshal Cassandra (Elvira, Mistress of the Dark) Peterson, the Flamingo Freedom Band, singer Christina Sichta and the South Beach Gay Men's Chorus.
The walk is one of Care Resource's best-known -- and most important -- fundraising events.
"We have a $5 million budget for the agency," Siclari said. "This year about $1.3 million is from traditional fundraising." That includes events like the walk, which Care Resource had hoped would raise $100,000.
Reaching that target now appears unlikely, Siclari said.
He cited Care Resource's top annual fundraiser, the internationally known White Party at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami, which last November raised about $570,000 for the agency -- 10 percent less than a budgeted $630,000.
The shortfall comes just as Miami was identified by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta as having the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the United States, 60 per 100,000 people.
The rate in Fort Lauderdale is about 48 per 100,000; West Palm Beach's rate is 44 per 100,000.
"Getting the message out on how to be safe and how to stay safe is very difficult," Siclari said. "Unfortunately, we have a fragmented community. We have communities within communities. We have a lot of trouble penetrating communities that are still in denial."
To contact Steve Rothaus, call 305-376-3770, email srothaus@herald.com or send him faxes at 305-376-5287. Notices can be mailed to: Steve Rothaus, 1 Herald Plaza, Fifth Floor, Miami, FL 33132. The column is online at www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/steve_rothaus
The 14th annual, three-mile AIDS Walk Miami begins at 8:45 a.m. Sunday outside the Miami Beach Convention Center, Hall D, 1901 Convention Center Dr., Miami Beach.
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