A Taste for Life, a dining benefit that helps out a designated charity, will be giving proceeds to The Sharp Foundation during its fifth annual run in Calgary.
Started in Ottawa, the creative fundraiser is now making appearances throughout Ontario and New Brunswick, but Calgary was the first to host it outside of its province of origin.
"The idea is we recruit participating restaurants; on the last Wednesday of every April those restaurants will host A Taste For Life and they donate 25 per cent of their gross sales for the day (food, liquor, desserts, everything) to the charity," explains Floyd Visser, executive director for The Sharp Foundation. "We’ve got nine or ten restaurants signed up already, and we usually get a few more than that [before it starts]. We try to get every price point we can, and all kinds of cuisine going. It’s really simple: all you have to do is go out for dinner, and have a great meal, and the restaurant donates 25 per cent of its gross."
Indeed, it’s both simple and beneficial.
"The general population doesn’t know that, right here in Calgary, we have a fantastic little organization providing care and support for individuals dealing with HIV/AIDS and homelessness; or they may be dealing with (HIV/AIDS and) mental illness, or they’re dealing with some really complex [blend of other] issues... in combination with HIV/AIDS," says Visser.
The Taste For Life event is slated for April 23rd this year, and starts at 7am. Blue Vinny, new to the event, will be doing a breakfast/lunch offering for the charity with a quarter of the proceeds going to The Sharp Foundation.
"We provide an integrated spectrum of support: what that means is we not only provide the client with medical support (HIV requires a very strict regimen of medication, nutrition, stress management, doctors’ visits, etc.), but we really care for the individuals that have difficulty with some of that process," explains Visser. "The idea is to build their health and help them rebuild their lives."
Visser is clearly as involved as the staff he directs at the Lumino Building and Beswick House.
"Beswick is a ten room 24/7 fully supported group home. We have two healthcare aides on every shift, and they’re responsible for medication and administration, and will monitor the clients’ therapy, when necessary... If there are issues around addictions, substance abuse, etc., we will also help the clients with treatment programs, whether they’re in day treatment or longer-term treatment; we provide active living programs, so the client gets a chance to get out and build social skills; building out the client’s whole, as we would say."
We discussed the fact that the fastest growing demographic in HIV/AIDS cases is aboriginal women, for a whole host of reasons that deserve their own story in print. Visser notes that yes, The Sharp Foundation has a mixed cultural clientele, and recalls one 40-year-old Native woman’s story.
"It was a situation that, when she came into Beswick House, after we got her health stabilized, we were able to get further testing done to address other issues," he says. "It turned out she was schizophrenic, and of course that can be treated. So very quickly she was on treatment, and was just the most amazing person you could ever meet: very spiritual, and calm. Her family was so thankful, because suddenly they were getting their mother, their daughter, their sister back."
The woman would go to visit her family, but always returned to the Beswick, the place where she had been able to feel the most comfortable. She stayed there until she passed away from HIV/AIDS a few years later.
"Even today her family is still engaged with us, supporting us and writes letters for us," Visser says.
"The key thing here is, because of the trust that the client builds with us – and that’s the most difficult thing to build because of the vulnerability – it’s not always easy to transition the clients to another environment. So they stay with us. This is their home, because that’s where they feel the safest."
The Sharp Foundation began its work in 1990.
"We started out as a place that provided dignified, non-judgemental supports for people who were dying of AIDS," Visser says. "Of course things have changed significantly in the last 25 years (medically), but we’re still dealing with a lot of the stigma and discrimination associated with the disease, or the lifestyles that are stereotypically associated with the disease."
Then add to that the issues of homelessness, depression, and culture.
"That’s what’s so cool about this work – is seeing people get back to living and respecting themselves, and understanding that they have value, and they’re worth taking care of."
To that end, following the construction of new locations around the city and an agreement with Calgary Housing, The Sharp Foundation was granted access to ten per cent of the apartments in the Lumino Building in September last year. This followed the flood cleanup.
This is independent living, targeted at people who have been living with HIV for a long period of time, and are being impacted by aging... The people [we’ve moved in] are really happy: they’re fitting in well, and we haven’t had to deal with any issues around stigma or discriminatory issues, or anything like that," Visser says, important in a mixed-usage, 80-unit apartment building.
To learn more, about the charity and its activities, check out their website and go out and eat something!