Chair of Theatre Cares, Diane Brown, presents Positive Living B.C.’s President Wayne Campbell with an $8500 donation on World Aids Day, December 1st, 2014. Three other charities received the same amount from Theatre Cares : Aids Vancouver, The Actors Fund of Canada, and The Stephen Lewis Foundation.
Theatre Cares Vancouver raises over $35,000 for charity
Theatre Cares Vancouver has raised $35,000 in support of AIDS Vancouver, Positive Living in BC, the Actors’ Fund of Canada and the Stephen Lewis Foundation. Each of these charities will receive $8,500 support from Theatre Cares. This is thanks to The Arts Club Theatre, Bard on the Beach, and Studio 58, whose patrons gave generously.
Finding money to keep much-needed programs going is not the only obstacle in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Education appears to be sorely lacking as well. In 2004, the Canadian AIDS Society reported that a large number of youth believe there is not only a cure for HIV/AIDS, but there is also a vaccine available to prevent HIV infection. There isn’t.
Theatre Cares Vancouver has been raising funds and awareness since 1991. Throughout each year, Theatre Cares raises money at different events, notably Theatre Cares Week, which takes place in February of every year.
Without the generosity of the theatre patrons and the support of local theatre companies, both large and small, Theatre Cares would not be able to do the work that it does. Our fundraising over the years has benefited PAL Vancouver, the Coast Foundation, Triage Emergency Services & Care Society, Camp Moomba, PEERS Vancouver, Electric Company and the Positive Women’s Network, a partnership of women living with HIV/AIDS in British Columbia.
Theatre Cares Vancouver is a volunteer-based organization that unites the generous spirit of Vancouver’s performing arts community with its supporters to raise funds and awareness for HIV/AIDS relief and other worthy causes.
For more information, please contact:
Diane Brown,
Chair, Theatre Cares Committee
diane@rubyslippers.ca
Theatre Cares Vancouver is a volunteer-based organization that unites the generous spirit of Vancouver’s performing arts community with its supporters to raise funds and awareness for HIV/AIDS relief and other worthy causes. The funds raised by Theatre Cares Vancouver each year are donated to registered charities that support HIV/AIDS patients both at home and abroad: AIDS Vancouver, the Positive Living Society of BC, the Actors’ Fund of Canada, and the Stephen Lewis Foundation. Revenue comes from t-shirt and other merchandise sales, the Theatre Cares Martini Bar which makes an appearance at various events in the theatre community throughout the season, and from the funds donated at theatres each night by generous audience members during Theatre Cares Week. For news on this year’s Theatre Cares Week, click here. Because our committee works on a volunteer basis, we are able to donate 90% of the funds we raise to the charities we support.
2014 Supporters
Studio 58
The Arts Club Theatre
Bard on the Beach
There is no cure for HIV/AIDS.
In sub-Saharan Africa today, 22.5 million people are living with HIV/ AIDS, 61% of whom are women and girls, and more than 2 million of whom die each year. Eight hundred to 1000 people die from AIDS each day in South Africa alone.*
Approximately 58,000 Canadians are currently living with HIV/AIDS, and researchers estimate that an additional 17,000 are unaware they are infected.**
New infections are on the rise. It is estimated that over 4,000 Canadians are infected with HIV every year.**
These statistics reflect only what is known about the people who have chosen to be tested.
The Canadian AIDS Society has reported that a large number of youth believe there is not only a cure for HIV/AIDS, but also a vaccine available to prevent HIV infection. There isn’t.
* data from the Stephen Lewis Foundation
** AIDS Committee of Toronto