Queer as Folks

Open Arms Reaches Home Stretch

With more than $8 million needed for its new building, Open Arms of Minnesota has managed to raise all but about $500,000 in a few short months. What began as a groundbreaking ceremony last November has grown into a new home for this organization that helps people living with HIV/AIDS and other debilitating diseases. On November 7, a benefit dance at the new building, 25th Street and Bloomington Avenue, Minneapolis, which isn’t completed yet, will give guests a unique experience of the presently raw construction space. On November 9, at First Congregational Church, 500 Eighth Street SE, Minneapolis, a group of area artists will present a night of music and readings about food to benefit Open Arms. For more information, visit www.openarmsmn.org.

Bar AIDS Has Smashing First Year

Bar AIDS, which started in 2003 in Chicago as a new approach toward fund-raising by organizations fighting HIV/AIDS, expanded to the Twin Cities for the first time on August 27 as a benefit for the Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP). This year, 25 venues participated, including alcohol-free ones. Each establishment donated a significant portion of money brought in by drinks served that day. Both gay and straight bars participated, showing support from all spectrums of the community. In the future, MAP hopes to grow the event into a significant, six-figure fund-raiser on the fourth Thursday of August each year. For more information, visit www.mnaidsproject.org.