 Hey guys, Raif DeRozzi here. You know, I do my best to provide content that is educational, inspiring, motivating, hopefully a little entertaining. And that in a lot of ways is my attempt at giving back. But one way that I haven't given back yet is financially. And with the upcoming AIDS Walk LA, that is a perfect opportunity for me to finally, you know, make it a solid attempt to put my money where my mouth is to fundraise and to donate in that sense. And that's something that's really important to me, something that I haven't done yet. So actually I've been to AIDS Walk LA two times for the past two years. Carl Schmidt, my buddy, and hashtag partner in crime is the person who actually took me to the first AIDS Walk that I've been to two years ago. He goes with Team K ABC 7 here in LA. It was a really cool event and it was amazing to see all those people show up as an outpouring of support and love for the HIV community. I wanted to do it my second year and I don't know, I think time just caught up with me and I wasn't aware of when AIDS Walk was and then all of a sudden it was happening and it was too late for me to fundraise and I was really bummed about that. So I made a promise to myself that this year I would really make the effort to raise some money. I just realized, I think last night that I was like, when's AIDS Walk? And I looked it up and realized it's essentially a month from now. It's September 13th is the deadline for turning in fundraising. And so I have a goal of raising $1,000 to donate to AIDS Walk LA and they have different categories that you can donate to and I chose this one. It's called support because of the wide range of programs and services that it offers to portions of the HIV community that you normally wouldn't necessarily think of and that don't get all the screen time as they should. So I wanna go over some of these things so that you're aware of where this money would go to. And I also wanna be upfront that you guys have consumed my content, you've enjoyed it, you've learned things from it, you've been inspired, you've been comforted, you've been entertained. And so I'm turning to you guys now also to help me help fundraise and help donate to a really, really worthy cause. On to the programs included in this donation package. NOLP food pantries, the Vance North Necessities of Life program, NOLP, founded in 1986 is the largest food pantry program in the US for people living with HIV. I didn't even know this existed, that there was food pantries for people just living with HIV, that's really, really cool. And NOLP provides fresh and nutritious fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy along with dry and canned goods to more than 2,500 people every year. With our recent program expansion funded in part by AIDS Walk LA donations, NOLP is now a full nutritional support program providing 21 meals a week plus snacks. Guys, those of you who are living with HIV or have loved ones living with HIV, understand that an emphasis on diet and nutrition becomes really, really important when you have an HIV diagnosis because anything that you can do to support your body, your health, your physique to be in a state that is conducive to having a strong immune system is great and part of that is eating right, eating healthy and giving your body the right macro nutrients, micronutrients, all the things it needs to support a healthy immune system. So making sure that people are getting their food and they're getting healthy food is really important. Our goal is to ensure that our NOLP clients, all low income people living with HIV don't have to make the impossible choice between buying food and paying rent. And now more than ever, most of us can relate to what it's like to have financial insecurity and to even think of the possibility of having to think between being able to afford food and being able to afford rent. So many people across the US and across the world now because of the pandemic are faced with that hardship now. And as you see in the news with lines that are stretching miles along with cars for people pulling up to food pantries that never thought in their life they would have to even think about that, now have to face that. Well, the thing is for a large portion of the HIV community, the disenfranchised, the poor, the low income, the people who've been marginalized pushed on the fringes of society who because of that, because of their minority status, because of stigma, because of getting kicked out by friends and loved ones and family because of their status, those people haven't been able to sustain a job, have housing, be able to take care of themselves. And so food scarcity is a real problem. And so the fact that this program exists to give food to these people is really, really important. Just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we were implementing a plan to expand NOLP to more sites across Los Angeles County, partnering with more organizations to bring more food to more people than ever before. Although COVID-19 has been a major challenge, our expansion continues. And since the start of COVID-19 shutdowns and layoffs, we have seen a nearly 25% increase in the number of people who use our NOLP services. A clear indicator of how fine the line is between food security and insecurity. The next program, housing support. Housing and homelessness are critical issues in Los Angeles County. Los Angeles is known for having a disproportionately high number of homelessness, of homeless people here. And homelessness is directly tied to healthcare. Again, so underscored and highlighted by the current pandemic situation that if you don't have a stable home, the chances are that you're not gonna be able to take care of your health. You're not gonna be able to see a doctor when you need to or get medicine that you need to or eat right, be able to keep your stress under control, have financial security. It's so important that you have a house, a home to go home to and to have that stability as a foundation. With all the focus on the issue, the most recent Los Angeles homeless count showed an actual increase, increase of 12.7% in the number of homeless individuals in the county. We work with hundreds of low income people living with HIV every year to find and maintain their housing. We know that with stable housing, our clients are better able to stay healthy to adhere to their medication regimen, make and keep critical medical appointments and have lower stress levels and better emotional health. I didn't even read that. And they basically just restated what I just said. That's exactly right. And it's so important. The next program is Hive Programs. HIV-E, our HIV elders Hive program was the result of listening to our community. We learned that many men over 50 living with HIV suffer from isolation and depression, causing them to disengage from actively managing their health. They stopped taking their medications, skipped medical visits and report higher rates of alcohol use. Hive brings these men together to create a community, to make friends and to literally get out of the house. Maybe not so much now, but at one point, getting out of the house was really important. Now it's probably more virtual events, I'm assuming. Hive is a combination of educational, social and emotional support. We host events, organize outings and provide an opportunity for men to get the emotional support they need. Professional therapists on APLA Health's behavioral health services team provide a space for people to explore their feelings about anything. Aging, anxiety and depression, personal development and understanding their complicated feelings about being HIV positive, including their survivor's guilt. So this is a segment of the HIV community that often gets neglected and overlooked. And frankly, I've been thinking about it a lot lately that even on my channel, I haven't given enough attention to the older generation. And the fact is these are the folks, the people who lived through the thick of it, through the 80s and the early 90s who saw the devastation, people dying from AIDS left and right, the fear tactics, the scare, the stigma, all of it. That was definitely the worst part of it. I'll never know what that's like because I never lived through it. But now it's hard because a lot of the older generation isn't being included in messaging, invisibility, in role models, in the media. So they're feeling alone, isolated and forgotten. And on top of that, a lot of them are dealing with survivor's guilt because they had friends and loved ones who died and they didn't. It's really important that we give extra attention and love and energy to that segment of the community and address their specific needs. Benefits counseling is another program. Our professional benefits counselors help people navigate the complex and bureaucratic array of programs that are available from Social Security, Ryan White programs, ADAP, PrEP, AP and many more. It's a complicated alphabet soup, yes it is, designed to help people out but can be so confusing that many don't know where to begin. APLA Health lives and breathes these letters and acronyms and can get people enrolled in the programs that best meet their needs. We often offer Lyft or Uber transportation to and from their critical appointments. That's really cool, I didn't know that. And it's so true, a lot of you probably who don't have HIV necessarily or have HIV outside of the US aren't familiar with things like Ryan White and ADAP. But those are programs that are subsidized by the government and through donations that help people living with HIV be able to get access to healthcare. It subsidizes their premiums for the healthcare and also covers costs for medication and other services related to living with HIV. And they're right, it is a super bureaucratic process. It's super overwhelming, it's complicated. There's so much paperwork, you have to keep up with things and if you miss a deadline, then everything just wipes out and you gotta start all over again. It can be very stressful and I know I wouldn't have been able to figure out all my own, thankfully. I had that support to be able to do that and I still have that support ongoing. I get reminders every six months, oh this forum is due, make sure you submit this. Otherwise, of course, I'm sure I would forget or I would just get lost in the shuffle. So that's really important that they have that connection to these programs to make sure that people stay on care. They get on care, they stay on care and relieves that burden. That when you're dealing with an HIV diagnosis, the last thing you wanna deal with is a bunch of complex forms and things. Women's Wellness Programs. In 2019, we started ROAR for South Los Angeles' lesbian, bisexual and queer community and all self-identifying women. ROAR, reaching out and reclaiming is a call to action for women to reclaim their bodies, their minds and their voices to prioritize their wellness, empowering themselves to be better equipped to care for their families and communities. And that's another segment of the population that often gets overlooked and doesn't get as much visibility is females. Females are also dealing with HIV and they get diagnosed with HIV. So it's really crucial that this program is focusing on women. Transgender Support. Our support programs for transgender individuals extend beyond just medical care to include all aspects of transition related care. We can provide emotional support during the transition process, help with finding referrals for gender affirming surgeries and work with health insurances to cover the costs. We are advocates for the community and creators of spaces where our transgender family are the norm and not the exception. And that's so true. Yes, also transgender community gets overlooked and often doesn't get the complexity of care that they require. And so many medical professionals just don't even know how to talk to someone who is transgender. They don't have the sensitivity and understanding to have that dialogue and understanding the language. And that's so important that more attention needs to be given to this community and what their needs are, especially those living with HIV. So I have a fundraising goal of $1,000. I think it's very doable. I have a month to raise it. I'm depending on you guys, my subscribers, my followers, my friends, my little pen pals whom I've never met before, but you guys have shared your most intimate secrets with me about your health and your concerns and your fears and your worries. And we've had discussions and I've created relationships with some of you friendships. I'm asking you all now if you can help me, anything you can to please donate to a very, very worthy cause, one that has helped me, continues to help me and helps many, many others here in Los Angeles. I appreciate you guys for taking the time to watch this, to learn a little bit more, and I will put a link to my donation page. I have a specific donation page that you can donate to. I'll put that link below this video. Please check that out and donate. I'll probably bug you about this again before the month is out, but for now, thank you. And oh yeah, I wanted to give you an update on my lab results from my recent doctor's appointment. I posted that video a week ago. You can check it out there if you haven't seen it yet. And basically I am undetectable. I've been undetectable for years and that is still the case. My CD4 count is about, I wanna say 550. My CD4 tends to hover between 400 and 700. And it tends to stay on the lower end for me. I think maybe that's because I had an AIDS diagnosis so it never really gets that high. The highest it's ever been is 800, but it fluctuates and that's totally normal. And a lot of people worry about that, but it's normal for your CD4 count to fluctuate. The only thing that was a little bit off also, but not bad, was my cholesterol level. My bad cholesterol LDL was a little bit elevated and that's understandable because during the pandemic, I haven't been going to the gym regularly. I really haven't been working out consistently, not nearly as much as I was before. And I also haven't been eating very healthy lately. I've been eating a lot of junk food, a lot of DoorDash, Postmates delivery and highly processed foods, so I get it. But it's something that's easily correctable and I'm sure now that I'm starting to eat more healthy and I'm gonna be incorporating more cardio and stuff like that, that that's something that I can fix. Anyway, that's it for now. Again, please, please, please, if you can find it in your heart to donate. This is such a worthy cause. It's so important to get care for all these people here living in LA with HIV, especially under the circumstances that we find ourselves in in 2020. Thank you so much. I will see you guys next time. Peace.