19 | Out in the Mountains |February 2001 community compass AIDS Project of Southern Vermont Celebrate your valentine with dinner and a donation on Saturday, February 10, 2001. Last year’s Great Restaurant Event was such a success we wanted to repeat it again this year and make it even bigger. This wonderful evening is a time for people to celebrate together - and to benefit the AIDS Project of Southern Vennont. Thanks to many area restau- rants, the Project has created an opportunity for fun, food and philanthropy. This event, called “Don’t Eat Your Heart Out - Celebrate Your Valentine With Dinner and A Donation” just asks you to have a good time! Here’s how it works: grab your sweetheart or get a group of friends together and invite them to join you for a festive dinner at your favorite restau- rant. In turn, participating restaurants will donate 10% of their proceeds to the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont. You and the restaurants are working together to support the wonderful sense of community that symbolizes the Project. it’s that simple — eat out and help out! At press time, participating restaurants included: Cafe Beyond, Peter Havens’, Putney Diner, T.J. Buckley’s, The Common Ground, Blue Benn Diner and Three Mountain Inn. For more information call 802- 254-8263. When you make your reser- vations be sure to let the restau- rants know that you support the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont and are pleased that they do too. Mountain Pride Media This is a very special month for Mountain Pride Media. Out In The Mountains celebrates its 15th anniversary with this month’s issue. We are also thrilled to welcome and intro- duce Jason Whipple, the new Editor of Out In The Mountains. We encourage you to say hello to Jason. He can be reached at editor@mountain- pridemedia.org. We are plan- ning numerous opportunities throughout the coming year for you to join us in meeting Jason and other staff members as well as helping us celebrate 0ITM’s anniversary. Mountain Pride Media would like to thank Bennett, Jim, Mack, Dan, and Roland for stopping in to help with the December stufflng. Our February Stuffing is scheduled for Thursday, February 22nd from 5ish to 8ish at our office in‘ Richmond, Vermont (above the Daily Bread). Come out and help get Out In The Mountains into the community. We are still seeking a volunteer to deliver packaged copies of OITM to the Richmond Post Office on the Friday following the stuffing. If you are interest- ed in helping out with the stuff- ing in any way send us an email at circulation@moun- tainpridemedia.org. Mountain Pride Media will soon be starting up our Green Mountain Tour again. We have only ' few more stops left to complete our county-by-coun- ty tour of Vermont; You can find more information about the Green Mountain Tour and other MPM initiatives on our newly redesigned web site - www.mountainpridemedia.org. All MPM sponsored events are also listed in our free Community Calendar, which is printed in OITM and on our web site. Finally, Mountain Pride Media would like to invite you to get more involved in 2001. With a new editor in place and the kick-off of our 15!!‘ anniversary celebration, this is a great time to join us. We have numerous volunteer opportuni- ties available, which can easily be accessed on our web site. If one of your New Year’s resolu- tions was to help make a differ- ence in your community, con- sider contacting us today. National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association Some of the Vermont mem- bers of the New E land Chapter of the Na ional Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association met on Jan. 7 to talk about plans for the year. The group decided to hold monthly brunches around the state to raise the visibility of the organization. The first will be in Burlington on Feb. 11. The next full chapter meet- ing will be held in Northampton, Mass. on March 3. Plans are also underway to launch a chapter Web site and to hold a reception in Hartford, CT in conjunction with the National Writers Workshop in early April. Please check the OITM Calendar for details on events and see the Source Professional listings for con- tact information. The NLGJA works within the news industry to foster fair and accurate coverage of les- bian and gay issues and oppos- es newsroom bias toward gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgen- der people and all other minori- ties. The national organiza- tion’s/ Web site is www.nlgja.org. Anyone who supports the mission of NLGJA is invited to attend events or join the organization. Pride VT As winter again sinks its cold claws into our landscape, the Pride VT committee is working hard to stay warm and plan some great events for our community. This month’s meetings, open to any and all, are scheduled for Tuesdays, February 12 and 27. As always, the meetings will be held at the McClure Multi—Generational Center in Burlington, 241 N. Winooski Ave, from 7-9pm. For more information on meet- ings, please contact Brian Cina at 859-9238. And for those looking for fun, family and funky shoes, be sure to come out to Yankee jLanes in Colchester at 17 Mountain View Drive for an evening of Cosmic Bowling. The night of pin striking is scheduled for . Monday, February 5, from 9 to 11pm. All ages are welcome and encouraged to hone their rolling skills for $12 (2 games and shoe rental). For more information on bowling, please call Kenny Hirschmann at 288- 1588. R.U.1.2? Community Center The Vermont Diversity Health Project is a committee of R.U.l.2?, started by the Vermont Department of Health in collaboration with commu- nity members and groups. R.U.1 .2? took the project on as our own in July of 2000. Since then things have really taken off. As a result of a lot of hard work from everyone, VDHP has received a grant to the tune of $7000.00 for a resource guide. The resource guide will be for the gay, lesbian, bisexu- al, transgender and questioning community and will help iden- tify GLBTQ friendly health- care practitioners. We have compiled a comprehensive ‘sur- February 2001 | Out in the Mountains [19 invited to provide recent or upcoming check the calendar vey and will be sending it out to several hundred practition- ers to find out their stance on issues pertinent to GLBTQ community. We are expecting a positive response and are very excited to get started. We are hoping to have the Resource guide laid out, printed and ready to distribute at Pride this year. We are in the process of hir- ing a part time staff member who will be doing most of the legwork for the guide. This part time staff member will be working at the R.U.l.2? head- quarters which means R.U.1 .2? has it’s first official office employee! Thanks to the Health Department for sup- porting us in this endeavor and to Tage Lilja for writing the grant. .0 For more information about VDHP or the R.U. 1 .2? commu- nity center, call 860-RU12 (7812). Samara Foundation Samara Foundation wel- comes Year 2001 grant applica- tions. A letter of intent, post- marked no later than March 1, 2001, is the first step in the Samara grant application process. are reviewed by the Samara grants advisory "committee. Selected applicants are notified by April 6 to submit complete grant applications by May 7 for further competitive review. Grant awards are announced _during the month of June. For complete granting guidelines and application information, including grant applications please call the Samara office at 802-860-6236 or send e-mail to info@sama- rafoundation.org . If you have any questions about your orga- nization’s or project’s eligibili- ty, please call Bill Lippert at 802-860-6236, or Howdy Russell, grants committee chair, at 802-482-4242. Samara Scholarships for Year 2001 will be processed through the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC). Samara Scholarships are listed in VSAC’s Scholarships 0’or the College Year 2001-2002). For a copy call 800-642-3177. Applications must be post- marked by March 25, 2001. T.H.E. Men's Program . At their November meeting, All letters of intent‘ Community Compass is a service of OITM. GLBT organizations from around the state are 200-word descriptions of activities and events. Send your submissions to us by email to editor@mountainpridemedia.org for deadlines the board of directors of the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont approved the new name and revised mission statement of our Brattleboro- based HIV Prevention Program for men who have sex with men. Our new name is “T.H.E. Men’s Program - Total HIV Education”. Our revised mis- sion statement reads as fol- lows: “T.H.E. Men’s Program works in the greater southeast Vermont region to reduce the risk of HIV between men who have sex with men. We build communities of men - men who increasingly care about each other, work together for community health, and practice HIV prevention behaviors.” Both the name and the mis- sion statement were developed with extensive feedback from the men in the community, our advisory board, staff at the Project, and members of the board of directors. Our goals were to create a distinct identi- ty for our program and to state our mission in a way that was at once inclusive, holistic, tar- geted and measurable. T.H.E. Men’s Program con- tinues to provide one-on-one peer counseling, social activi- ties, our free monthly newslet- ter, risk reduction workshops, and volunteer opportunities. You can reach us at 802-254- 8263, men@sover.net, or by writing to T.H.E. Men’s Program, P.O. Box 1486, Brattleboro, VT 05302. Glenn Johnson, Coordinator Vermont CARES Vermont CARES, in con- junction with The New England Culinary institute, will be hosting a Live and Silent Auction on Saturday March 3, 2001 at the Inn at Essex. Come join us for a dessert reception and great auction, all to benefit Vermont CARES. There will be wonder- ful items to bid on including an Interior Design Package, a two—night stay including meals at the Topnotch Resort and Spa, beautiful arts and crafts from Vermont Artists, and 2 tickets to the Will and Grace show just to name a few. It ought to be a fabulous time! If you are interested in attnding or would like to volunteer for the event please contact Vermont CARES at 863-2437. fl