FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    June 23, 2009

HIV/AIDS Agencies to Benefit from Pride Parties

San Diego HIV Funding Collaborative Announced as 2009 Beneficiary by "Bill Hardt Presents - The Original San Diego Pride Parties"

June 23, 2009:  Bill Hardt Presents, announced today that fifteen percent of the profits from the “Original San Diego Pride Parities” will be donated to the San Diego HIV Funding Collaborative to support their ongoing work in the fight against HIV/AIDS in San Diego.  While this years events are not part of the “Official” events hosted by San Diego Pride for the first time since 1977, benefits from the events will continue to support the LGBT community.

“I would like to say thank you to everyone who has helped make our donations possible. We are very excited to be able to support the important work of the funding collaborative convened by the San Diego Human Dignity Foundation,” said Hardt.  “It will be the first time in our history of donating that we have been able to designate the beneficiary,” he added.  “I am also elated at the prospect that our donation may be doubled by matching funds from the Elton Johns Aids Foundation. In a time when HIV/AIDS funding & services are being cut and/or reduced, this is a very exhilarating prospect, that celebrating who we are can so greatly impact the lives of others through your ticket purchases. ”

Bill Hardt began producing the San Diego Lesbian & Gay Pride Parties in 1997. Since that time, Bill Hardt and his companies have always donated money back to the Gay & Lesbian Community in various ways.  To view the amounts and recipients over the years, please visit www.billhardtpresents.com and click on the philanthropy page for detailed information.

The San Diego HIV Funding Collaborative (SDHFC) is a group of funders and concerned community members whose mission is to raise, leverage and collaboratively allocate private funds to reduce the impact of HIV in the San Diego region. As a collaborative partner of the National AIDS Fund and the Elton John AIDS Foundation, funds raised locally become eligible for matching national funds.

Since 1990, SDHFC has raised and re-granted $4.2 million to programs that fill gaps within the San Diego region's HIV/AIDS service delivery system.  The San Diego Human Dignity Foundation is the convener of the San Diego HIV Funding Collaborative.