Around The OPALGA Center
OPALGA Claims Another “30 Under 30”
Congratulations to our own Hector Salgado, who directs the OPALGA Latino men’s program, ALAS. Hector recently received the distinction of being named one of the 2008 Windy City Times “30 Under 30” award winners. This award recognizes young activists who have made significant contributions to the LGBT community. Way to go, Hector—we’re proud of you!
Latino Men’s Retreat
Thanks to a generous grant from the Illinois Department of Public Health Center for Minority Services, OPALGA held its second annual Latino Men’s Retreat. This three-day event was again held in conjunction with Project VIDA in Chicago. This year, we hosted 14 young Latino men between the ages of 18–25 at the Menno Haven Retreat Center in Tiskilwa, Illinois. The retreat was meant to create community for these young men while exploring relationships, their culture and identity within the LGBT community, and HIV and STI prevention education. Although the weather for the event was a bit balmy and the facilities lacked air conditioning, our staff and retreat participants had a weekend to remember. Thanks to our ALAS program staff who facilitated the event—Hector Salgado, Celso Cardenas, and Alex Lopez—and Carlos Samaniego from Project VIDA. We look forward to next year’s retreat!
Donut Days!
Thank you to the 49 volunteers who helped to make this year’s Farmers’ Market Donut Days fundraiser an amazing success. To date, we raised close to $1,700, and we will receive another small check at the end of the season based on overall sales. As always, it seemed as though everyone had a great time, and most of you were well-versed in the ways of donuts. It was a smooth operation, and thanks for all of your time and talent!
Prism Youth Program
Some of you may have heard that we are holding our drop-in group for teens from 14–18 years of age on a trial basis every Thursday night. So far, so good, and we have decided to extend the program through August to meet the needs of our teen LGBT population. We will reassess the need later in the summer, and if there is sufficient demand, we may put Prism back into our regular rotation of drop-in groups that we offer.
