birds eye view

Follow ontheten on Twitter

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Beatty Recognized for Advocacy Work

SIN- Strength In Numbers Colorado is ecstatic about this year's selection to receive the Carl Frazier Memoriam for community advocacy. The local recognition began in 2009 as a response to the untimely loss of one if its members in July 2008. To commemorate Carl, as well as promote a stronger sense of community among Colorado's HIV positive citizens, the CFM was created and the 2009 recipient was Arthur Powers. This will hopefully continue to grow as a mechanism for the poz community here to say Thank You to our own. Michael is a shining example of consistent community input. Below is Beatty's bio and a snapshot of his amazing scope of work (actually put together by Drew Wilson of Mile High Gay Guy). The award will be presented at the annual Gill Foundation Community Forum to be held at Hamburger Mary's on March 30th. RSVP required. The following article is reprinted from http://www.ontheten.com/ and the TEN newsletter.

Congratulations Michael... And Thank You for all your beautiful work.

Michael Beatty is a Denver-based marketing and promotions professional with extensive experience in event planning and fundraising and a long history of professional and personal association with Colorado’s HIV and gay communities.

Having worked in the HIV community since the early 1990s, Beatty is honored and humbled to be the recipient of the 2010 Carl Frazier Award. The Carl Frazier Memorial Award is named for Strength In Numbers contributor Carl Frazier, who was murdered in 2008, and is awarded annually by Strength in Numbers Colorado to recognize excellence in HIV community advocacy.


“It’s such an honor to be recognized for doing the work I love to do,” said Beatty. “This work feeds my soul and gives me reason to get up in the morning. It’s all about contributing to my community and making a difference in peoples’ lives.”


Beatty, who has lived with HIV since 1985, was approached in 1993 by Charles Robbins, founder of Colorado’s Project Angel Heart, to become a member of the rapidly growing organization’s team. Founded in 1991 to provide nutritious meals to members of the Denver community living with HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses, Project Angel Heart now serves over 800 clients every week.


Beatty credits Robbins with seeing in him a potential for community service that Beatty himself did not. As program director of Project Angel Heart’s Center for Living, Michael Beatty began the first steps of his professional and personal journey through the world of HIV advocacy.


Soon after, Beatty began a 15-year association with the Colorado chapter of AIDS, Medicine, & Miracles as Director of Constituency Relations and retreat producer. AM&M coordinates holistic retreats and one-day programs around the country for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.


Beatty’s work in the HIV/AIDS and gay communities throughout the years has also included serving as Event Director for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, & Transgender Center of Colorado and employment with Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Boulder County AIDS Project, Denver PrideFest, POZ magazine, Out Front Colorado newspaper, and collaborated in the production of three Denver HIV Health Fairs, the HIV Retreats, and the Community Education Forums.


“Everything I’ve done professionally has given me an opportunity to be of service to the HIV community,” said Beatty. “As a person living with HIV and as a person on a journey of recovery from cocaine since 1990 I feel that I’m alive for a reason and that reason is that there’s work for me to do.”


It was attending a Strength In Numbers breakfast gathering that Michael Beatty met Carl Frazier. He is now proud to be the recipient of Frazier's namesake award and thrilled that the good work of the Community Educat10nal Forums and the HIV Retreats at Shadowcliff has evolved under the leadership of Michael Dorsch and Rod Rushing through TEN (Treatment Educat10n Network). If I were to recognize two people in our community who made significant differences in our lives, it would be Michael and Rod, you guys ROCK!
For nearly 20 years, Michael Beatty’s professional and personal philosophy has been one of contribution and service to the community, and to this day, Beatty dedicates his work to those who have lost their battle against HIV, as well as to those who continue to fight and thrive.


“The bottom line is that it’s all about creating a life I love living by helping others create a life they can love living,” said Beatty. “I want to empower my gay brothers with the information that they are wonderful and complete and whole and deserving of the abundance that life has to offer.”


Bookmark and Share




Documents

No comments:

Related Posts with Thumbnails