By Sarah Mieras
Auction against AIDS
4 p.m. on Sheldon Street between Fulton and Library in downtown Grand Rapids.
GRAND RAPIDS – The back bar at the Apartment Lounge in Grand Rapids is overflowing with art, gift certificates and collectibles as preparations for the community's 15th Annual Auction Against AIDS get underway. The event, which kicks off at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 20, will celebrate its anniversary with a massive expansion into a Sheldon Street tent in the heart of downtown.
Apartment Lounge owners Milt Lennox and Ed Ladner started the event 15-years ago as a way to give back to the community.
"It was something we just wanted to do for the community and we didn't think we should take anything out of the pot to put it on," said Ladner.
To this day the couple still covers all of the costs associated with the event, giving every penny raised to the area's HIV/AIDS service organizations. Their dedication to covering the costs of the event has raised over $300,000 since the auction began.
"The Auction against AIDS is the largest private fundraiser for our organization," said William Allen, Agency Administrator HIV/AIDS Services, Inc. "Last year we received about $16,000 from the event."
Independent funding is even more crucial today than when the auction began, as state budget cuts and foundations tighten their belts. Recent cuts in Kent County, explained Allen, have had a major impact on all of the HIV service organizations.
"The Grand Rapids Community Foundation has closed down its AIDS Fund, because they were not seeing enough donations to justify the overhead costs.
We are continuing to see shrinking budgets from grants and foundations, which makes it even more important for us to focus on these events to raise money and awareness in the community."
Funds raised at the auction will benefit three Grand Rapids area organizations; HIV/AIDS Services, McAuley Health Services and the McClees Clinic.
Aside from raising funds, the auction raises awareness about HIV throughout the area. Figures from a recent Kent County Health Department study indicate that 30 percent of the people infected with HIV in the region are unaware of their status. This is 5 percent above the national average, making prevention and testing critical.
With no overhead costs, soliciting volunteers and donations for the event has been easy. More than 40 people donate their time to the event each year.
"We get it all," said volunteer Bob Weemhof, as he organized auction items at the bar last week. "We have a condo in Puerto Vallarta, cottages at Timber Bluff in Saugatuck, Jackie O Pearls, gift certificates for restaurants, bars and tattoo parlors, furniture and artwork. Just about anything we can talk people into donating."
The auction, said Weemhof, also owes its success to the fun atmosphere created by attendants.
"People get crazy and silly – bidding against each other just for the fun of it. It gets really wild."
This year's auction will take begin at 4 p.m. on Sheldon Street between Fulton and Library in downtown Grand Rapids. A series of video cameras will link the inside of the Apartment Lounge to the auction on the street.
Following the auction the adjoining Veteran's Memorial Park will play host to the International AIDS Candlelight vigil. The vigil, which takes place around the world, will include luminaries and live entertainment.
