This year marks Triad Health Project's 25th Annual Dining for Friends! We've already started planning this historic event and it promises to be unforgettable. Please mark your calendar for the Dessert Finale on May 17, 2014.

Each month, we will be sharing stories and pictures of Dining for Friends events and parties through the years. This month, we are featuring Bob Page and Dale Frederiksen and the Replacements, Ltd, Dining for Friends Party!

Monthly Musings from THP's

Executive Director

"A photo says, you were happy, and I wanted to catch that. A photo says, you were so important to me that I put down everything else to come to watch."

~ Jodi Picoult

We've been going through a lot of old photos the past several weeks as we prepare for the 25th Annual Dining for Friends.

It's funny; we all have those boxes of old photographs, don't we? And we've all had the best intentions to go through them and put them in a neat and tidy album but that just never seems to happen.

There's something very visceral about a photograph that you can hold in your hands and really look at for several moments. I've found myself doing that a lot lately.

I've recognized many of you, and yes, myself, in some of the photos. Were we ever really that young?

I went to my first Dining for Friends party in 1996. The concept was new to me - gathering for a dinner and then going downtown for dessert with several hundred other people. It was love at first bite and I'm fairly certain I haven't missed a year since then.

Remember all the theme parties over the years - togas, Margaritaville, Harry Potter, and on and on.

Addison Ore,

Executive Director

My heart feels so full when I look at these pictures. These are family photos in the truest sense of the word because that's what a family is - people related to each other. Most of us in these photos aren't related by blood, although I did run across a great picture of my sister dressed as Glenda the Good Witch at a Wizard of Oz theme party. No, we are related by a long line of community, compassion, and concern for our neighbors living with HIV/AIDS.

And make no mistake - these family ties run deep and we are so looking forward to a family reunion of sorts on Saturday, May 17th.

Please mark the date on your calendar - it just wouldn't be the same without you.

Very best,

Like and Share Challenge Grant

If you LIKE the work that Triad Health Project is doing to help people living with HIV/AIDS, then please take a second and
"LIKE" our Facebook page!

If you help us reach 2,500 LIKES by the end of Valentine's Day, we will raise $1,000 with the

"LIKE AND SHARE" CHALLENGE GRANT!

The Safety Dance

There are so many ways to meet these days. Match.com, Chemistry, and mobile phone apps abound. The way we meet dates and sexual partners has exploded, but the importance of asking the "right questions" and knowing your status hasn't changed with the internet age.

So, when is a good time to discuss sexual boundaries, HIV/STI status, and using condoms? Here's what I recommend: Before you meet someone for the first time, why not have the meeting be in a public place? Get to know your potential mate, and as you're discussing your hobbies and whether or not you like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain, let the other person know your status, and that you practice safe sex with condoms.

Kevin Varner, Director of Prevention and Education

Is it risky? Yes-disclosing your status, especially if you're HIV positive, is always a risk. You risk rejection. But, these days, if someone doesn't understand that using condoms consistently and correctly reduces the risk of HIV transmission to almost zero, then perhaps that person isn't the one for you. Condom use levels the playing field, and takes the guesswork out of risk reduction.

How can you be sure, when you first meet someone, that they are telling you their whole story? We all have agendas when we meet. We'd like to meet someone special, have a good time, and we seek connection. In my view, the best connections with the potential to grow are the connections that begin with an honest conversation and a willingness to protect your own sexual health, and the health of your partner.

Cooking with Ninevah

Knowing that an appetizer was needed for dinner guests that would be arriving shortly, I did a quick assessment of ingredients on hand and found a package of smoked salmon in the pantry and two kinds of goat cheese in the deli drawer. By combining these ingredients with a bit of light mayo and my favorite salad dressing with a sprinkling of dried dill, a delicious spread was created.

Smoked Salmon with Goat Cheese Spread

Ingredients

2 oz. smoked salmon with skin removed
� oz. peppered goat cheese
� oz. plain goat cheese
1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. light mayonnaise (not fat free)
1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. Ken's Light Options Parmesan Peppercorn Dressing
� tsp. dried dill weed

Directions

Crumble the peppered and plain goat cheeses in a small bowl. Break the skinned salmon into small pieces and use a fork to mix with the crumbled goat cheese. Add the light mayonnaise and parmesan-peppercorn dressing stirring gently to blend with the salmon and goat cheese. Stir in the dried dill weed.

Chill for at least one hour to blend flavors.

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25 Years of Dining for Friends

Anyone who has ever attended a Dining for Friends Dessert Gala has seen the Replacements, Ltd. banner hanging over the festivities. Replacements, Ltd. has underwritten the cost of the Dessert Gala for more years than even Bob Page, founder and owner of Replacements, Ltd. can remember.

Bob could easily rest on those laurels but he and his partner, Dale Frederiksen, and his wonderful staff at Replacements, Ltd. also host a Dining for Friends party every year at Bob and Dale's home. For the past several years, their party has been accentuated by excited voices and splashing in the pool, provided by Bob and Dale's twin sons, Owen and Ryan.

Bob and Dale's party is a family affair and Dale is often in charge of the grill. Business and pleasure mix easily and you're sure to bump into someone you know. And we're pretty sure that no one has a better time than Bob.

The Replacements, Ltd. party is just one of over 80 or so parties that will take place this spring in support of Triad Health Project.

If you've never hosted a party, this, our 25th year, would be a wonderful time to do it! We won't make you promise to have one every year like Bob and Dale but you never know what you might be starting!

For more information about hosting a party, contact Shana Carignan.

Bob Page and Dale Frederiksen greet guests at their Dining for Friends Party.

THP Bragging Rights

We're delighted to blow our horn for two very special and long-time THP supporters, Ron Johnson and Carolyn McAllaster, who are both being honored this month for their remarkable accomplishments.

Ron will be receiving the 2014 HRC (Human Rights Campaign) Equality Award for his decades of tireless work on the behalf of the LGBT community. Ron is one of the original 14 founders of THP and served on our board of directors for many years. He is known affectionately around our offices as "Mr. Winter Walk" - raising the largest amount of funds by an individual since the late Mrs. Leon passed the Winter Walk baton on to him years ago.

Carolyn will be receiving the Alexander D. Forger Award for Sustained Excellence in the Provision of HIV Legal Services and Advocacy to be presented at the ABA HIV/AIDS Law and Practice Conference next month. Carolyn runs Duke AIDS Legal Project and she and her team have been providing THP clients with critical pro bono legal services for many years.

Ron and Carolyn are dear friends and advocates for THP and we couldn't be more proud of them!

THP Hosts Kosovan Women

Triad Health Project is honored to have been chosen to host a group of women from Kosovo in a roundtable group discussion on January 15, 2014.

The women were in the Triad as part of the Open World Leadership Center program and the Friendship Force of Central North Carolina, a branch of the international peace organization that promotes understanding between people of different countries and cultures.

Click here to read the full article in the News and Record.

Greensboro High Point

801 Summit Avenue 620 English Road

P.O. Box 5716 P.O. Box 616

Greensboro, NC 27435 High Point, NC 27262

(336) 275-1654 (336) 884-4116