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.”

finally

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

this weekend has found me with the urge to really sigh a very big sigh. the project we have been working on since august has finally come to fruition. our not-for-profit papers have finally been filed. i felt like throwing in the towel long ago as my friend who is in this adventure with me has very definite ideas about everything involved.

but the incorporation has been established. the tax id number has been granted. and the 1023 papers have been sent in. when i heard it had actually been mailed, i just lifted my fist over my head and silently shouted "finally".

one can only hope that everything goes well. i am in complete amazement that i am allowed to participate in this particular journey. when i consider the fear and frustration i felt getting clean almost 5 years ago, i can hardly believe i am the same person. this has to be grace. at least it feels like it. you can check out our organization at on the ten.

i was asked to speak at a recovery rally at the state capital this wednesday. i said yes, but am a bit nervous about putting out a good message. again, i am at a loss to think i am on the same bill as the governor. although i have heard he is double booked and we may get mrs. ritter- (who is fantastic!). but i am most proud of the fact that there is a movement here in america to bring to light the fact that recovery does indeed happen and restores sanity and stability to many sectors. this seems a good direction to channel more of our efforts. less incarceration and more recovery.

with these all these amazing things happening around me, dare i believe that more can happen. i can think of at least one more fabulous adventure i would love to take.

the 5th issue of the sin newsletter is ready and up on the ontheten blog. a big thank you to all those who submitted articles or helped in so many ways.

today's sound choice is cece penniston with "finally"

it's like that

7 Important Facts about Strength In Numbers (SIN):


SIN represents a global association of poz gay men (there is no technical "membership" )
Our belief is that any gay guy who has tested positive for HIV is a part of our movement. There's no membership fee as the price for entry has been costly enough already!



SIN respects your privacy and right to keep your HIV status confidential
If you join one of our chapters or email lists, it is never shared with anyone. And we never ask guys in SIN to give us their full name or photo. We believe that everyone living with HIV/AIDS has the right to determine for themselves whether they want to tell no one, someone or everyone about their HIV status.


SIN has an extremely diverse participation (all ages, races, incomes, length in time of infection)
The guys who participate in SIN groups or interact with other SIN chapters come from every walk of life. HIV is color-blind, infects at any age, doesn't disappear over decades, and never, to our knowledge, cared what "poz social group" someone claim allegiance. HIV causes AIDS if untreated, period. So we welcome everyone infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, but we also take care to stick to our mission of seeking to empower and improve the lives of poz gay men around the world.


SIN chapters are locally managed unless we're looking for a manager
We have no paid staff so each local representation of Strength In Numbers is manned by volunteers who donate their spare time to moderate our message boards and coordinate social events for the group. Some of our chapters may not have an active manager at times, and in those cases managers from other cities will temporarily guide that group until a local manager is found. There are no official boards or committees in the SIN model, as we hope to avoid the political infighting and power struggles that have hampered so many other AIDS related organizations.


SIN is currently working on becoming a 501c3 tax exemption & doesn't (and never will) accept federal/state funding
Too many times we've seen AIDS related groups turn into fundraising machines after they become an operating non-profit, quickly losing focus on their original mission. Once that happens, it seems they dictate to people living with HIV/AIDS rather than work hard to serve the best interests of their clients or ever try to involve their membership in their decision making process. When they take public funding, particularly from the federal government, usually they are saddled with a mass of complex and restrictive requirements including burdensome surveys to fill out at every event they administer. While we understand this sometimes is fundamentally necessary for AIDS service organizations (ASOs) offering expensive programs like housing or healthcare, SIN does not offer direct services and therefore we've sought to put off any need for 501c3 filing as long as possible. Currently we are funded entirely by our own contributions, with most costs for our main operations covered by myself as founder of SIN. We have been in the process of determining how best to approach a filing for 501c3 giving our unique mission and global outreach.


SIN seeks to collaborate and partner with other poz social groups
When I started SIN in Los Angeles, it was like pulling teeth to get any of the ASOs to partner with us or dare to even think of collaborating through us with other agencies. My vision for Strength In Numbers has been to break down the territorial barriers that keep so many ASOs from working with each other. Again, our view is that HIV doesn't care about labels and doesn't see any borders itself, so why shouldn't ASOs work together as much as possible for the greater good. SIN chapters and our international headquarters work with almost every AIDS-related program we encounter, unless we feel that the relationship is not mutually respectful.



SIN focuses on empowering poz guys to have fun, meet each other in a healthy environment & support each other
Despite some misconceptions over the years, we are not some covert HIV-prevention campaign run by the government or some ASO. Our belief is that by helping poz guys live better, happier lives they will take better care of themselves and thereby take better care of their sexual partners. SIN works to reduce the transmission and potential fatality of HIV infections by empowering HIV+ gay men to empower themselves. Our main mission though is to help poz guys meet each other, have fun and become as comfortable and happy as they possible can be.

Strength In Numbers (SIN) started as just a simple potluck party in the Hollywood Hills bringing together 50 or so single poz guys who were tired of rejection at bars or online. That was in September 2002, and now the SIN network reaches over 25,000 men. There are over 50 chapters of SIN social groups around the world (SIN NYC has 1500+ itself), some much more active than others, but we're all working on improving all of them. We also help local poz social groups that do not have the SIN name promote themselves and communicate with other groups like them. And this May we launch our 1st poz cruise retreat on the Carnival Splendor to Mexico (www.sincruise. com).



Learn more about SIN at our main website: www.strengthinnumbers.org

Strength In Numbers: Together we're helping poz guys find their strength within!

Copyright 2009, Strength In Numbers International, Inc.

tdday's sound choice is run dmc with "it's like that"

you're invited to nibble and mingle

The Rebuilt+ Committee of Denver, along with Strength In Numbers is hosting a welcome gathering for the trainers from New York along with the participants from outside Denver who are participating in the "train the trainers" launch of HIV One On One later this month in Denver. Please come by to say hello, have some laughs, wish them good luck, and bring a dish to share. I hope we can demonstrate what good hosts live in Denver. The date, location, and time is listed below. Come by and nibble and mingle.


Nibble and Mingle Small Front

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Periodicals & Report denver strength in numbers

Nibble and Mingle Small Back

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Periodicals & Report denver rebuilt+

today's sound choice is "the start of something new" from disney's high school musical. believe me, i get some irony here....

it's a sin

another labor of love has come out to bloom. i think this one is better than the last, and hope they continue to get stronger. so many thanks to so many people. i am learning so much along the way.


SIN Newsletter 4

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Health aids denver

today's sound choice is the pet shop boys "it's a sin"

draft

Trouble is your middle name
But in the end youre not too bad
Can someone tell me if its wrong to be
So mad about you
Mad about you
Mad
Give me all your true hate
And Ill translate it in your bed
Into never seen passion
That is why I am so mad about you
Mad about you

from mad about you... hooverphonics

finally, we are ready to publish. this takes so much longer than i ever imagined. it's definitely a labor of love. there are friends from all over who have helped with this issue. marc, richard and brian- thank you so much for all your support and especially your friendship and patience.

hopefully, you will find it a good read. i don't know if i mentioned this, but allow me to boast even if it's one more time- the major denver public hospital and the state health department are now giving copies of this newsletter to new positives whenever they can. i am really blown away by this.
your comments are welcomed, as always.

love you madly.
truly, madly, deeply

SIN Newsletter 3 - Upload a Document to Scribd

a little praise

I believe that if you show people the problems and you show them the solutions they will be moved to act.
Bill Gates

we are in the process of producing another newsletter. the articles have all been submitted and i have turned them over to the layout person. he does an amazing job i believe. he has already cut 4 things that i had sent, two of which i was originally excited about.

but i do believe he has a point and i am hopefully learning that it is not always my way. i am just thrilled that he will take the time to tackle this project with me. thrilled. i couldn't get done without him. he does lots of editing and decision making that we need to get this done.

i know i get crazy sometimes(?) as i try to push myself and people around me to make things happen, i also am very aware that none of these things are accomplished by me alone. it takes effort from many people to put out a newsletter, edit an article, start an organization, or even start a support group or create a logo. i love all these characters in my life that accompany me on this journey. they allow me so much room to run, jump, sing, and play in this refurbished life.

i need these people. i respect, and admire, and really need these people. they make my heart sing. thank you from the bottom of my heart and the top of my lungs...ta da!

tonight's the night

on the 2nd tuesday evening of every month, denver's poz community usually has the option of attending an educational forum usually consisting of a catered hot meal and a topical presentation by a guest speaker. typically there are about 60-70 persons each month.

this month however, the forum decided to partner with SIN Colorado and Thrive! to put on a community bbq in cheesman park. burgers and grill were to be provided, the rest to be pot luck.

what a pleasant surprise! i counted 55 persons. this was a great turnout. there was so much food, i couldn't believe my eyes. the other thing i loved was the vibe that the party had. it was really pleasant and really laid back.

my friend robbie in brooklyn sent me this and i got a grin from ear to ear when i listened to it.... sometimes, there's nothing like old school...

S I N

i am happy to be a part of this particular organization. i am in the place in my life to be celebrating my life in a way that wasn't possible before. i also am of the mind that poz men need to stick together and organize so that as we age, we can do it with other gay men's eyes and hearts. i don't want to get older and have to go back into the closet. i broken too many rules for that.

somehow, i have been graced to become the online moderator for the Colorado chapter. we had a meeting today and have some fun things coming up. we would love you to join the fun, meet new people, and learn a little about thriving.

perhaps there is a chapter in your city. support them if you can. there are still men testing positive and the community support for them is not the same as it was back in the 80's and 90's.

SIN website