- November 29, 2024
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The Positive Champions Speakers Bureau was recently honored for it’s impact in the community.
When Jeff Allen was first diagnosed with HIV, he decided to move to place where homosexuality and his disease were accepted: Key West. Living off little money and mustard sandwiches, Allen told no one about his diagnosis, believing that battling his addiction with cocaine and heroin to be more important. After he got a job, and started making more money, he fell back into drugs, and eventually became homeless. It wasn’t until he was on the edge of death, that is life began to change for the better.
Allen was in the hospital, sick with PCP pneumonia for four weeks, when he met someone that had ventured down the same path. That person gave him the support and guidance he needed to get a job, a spiritual connection, stay sober, and even have his own place. All this person asked, was that Allen paid it forward. And for the past 27 years, that’s exactly what he’s done.
“I had been involved the Central Florida AIDS Planning Consortium for many years,” said Allen, who has been an Ormond Beach resident since 1995. “The HIV infection rate was on the rise, and when we asked the people why they didn’t know their status, they said they just didn’t want to be involved with an HIV organization. We we’re concerned.”
That’s when Allen decided to start the Positive Champions Speakers Bureau, a charity that allows individuals who have HIV/AIDS or have been affected by the disease in some way, to speak about the fear and stigma associated with it.
“We thought if we get a group of people together, and put a face to HIV to show it’s not just gay or drug-related, maybe this would make people want get tested and know their status.”
Since he began working with Positive Champions, his focus has also been on quality improvement for individuals living with the disease. He was included in the FACES OF HIV campaign which is a statewide prevention campaign put forth by the Florida Department of Health, and this year he was recognized in “POZ Magazine” as 100 of America’s Unsung Heros.
Currently, the Positive Champions Speakers Bureau has 13 speakers that travel all throughout the community speaking about the disease, and how to treat and prevent it.
“Awareness is key,” Allen said. “It’s a devastating disease, and it’s totally preventable.”
Visit www.positivechampions.org for more information about the group.
