Mission & Vision
Empowering HIV Long-Term Survivors to thrive through connection, reengagement and mobilization to create meaningful change to enhance Quality Of Life.
OUR MISSION
Empowering HIV Long-Term Survivors to thrive through connection, reengagement, and mobilization to create meaningful change to enhance Quality Of Life.
Founded in 2013 by, for, and about HIV Long-Term Survivors, Let’s Kick ASS is the first nonprofit founded to address the unmet needs and issues facing women and men living longest with HIV and AIDS.
About 25% of all 1.2 million People Living With HIV & AIDS in the US acquired the virus before 1996. That’s 300,000 people in the US.
Vision
Too many HIV Long-Term Survivors struggle to make sense of their lives now in the aftermath of 40 years of the AIDS pandemic. Our founder, Tez Anderson, coined AIDS Survivor Syndrome (ASS) to describe the psychosocial ramifications of living in the aftermath of the early AIDS pandemic. It is akin to Complex PTSD but specific to a large cohort.
We are an all-volunteer, grassroots movement united in compassion, committed to action, and insisting on visibility. Ending isolation and envisioning a future we never imagined we’d live.
Let’s Kick ASS works with the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC), SAGE USA. HealthHIV, CDC, ACRIA Center for HIV & Aging at GMHC (https://aginghiv.org/) among others. We collaborate with local and national HIV advocates, providers, and researchers.
Change Lives. Give to Let’s Kick ASS. Donate.
Let’s Kick ASS — AIDS Survivor Syndrome is a purpose-driven nonprofit, 501 ©(3), empowering HIV Long-Term Survivors to thrive and age well with the virus since 2013.
We exist on the kindness and generosity of the community and our allies. If you are able, please make a donation. You can click here or the image to donate through PayPal.
Or send a check to:
Let’s Kick ASS — AIDS Survivor Syndrome
516 Fell St #8
San Francisco, CA 94102
Tel: 415–999–2788
EIN: 46–5082959
Let’s Kick ASS is based in San Francisco, but our work is local, national, and international.
HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day is held every June 5. HLTSAD.org
June 5 is HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day (HLTSAD). The 2022 theme is “Mobilize to Thrive: Prioritizing Quality of Life” a call to action to prioritize and improve the Quality of Life for long-term survivors and Older Adults with HIV.
In 2014 Let’s Kick ASS launched HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day every June 5 (HLTSAD) a time to spotlight the present-day needs, issues, strengths, and resiliencies of people longest with HIV/AIDS. HLTSAD is an awareness day to inspire action every year we issue a Call To Action.
HLTSAD is an opportunity to raise awareness that leads to action. We don’t have the luxury of time to wait for the government to do the right thing. We are tired. We are old. But we can still kick ass.
The selection of June 5 for this annual observance coincides with the anniversary of the first official reporting of what became known as the AIDS epidemic on June 5, 1981. When the CDC first reported on five cases of a mysterious disease affecting young gay men. June 5, 1981, is considered the start of the AIDS pandemic.
Today, HIV Long-Term Survivors (HLTS) represent a diverse group of people diagnosed with HIV before the advent of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy or HAART in 1996. Approximately 25% of the 1.3 million people living with HIV have lived with the virus prior to 1996 when Highly Active Anti Retroviral Therapy (HAART) became available and
That makes about 330,000 longest-term survivors
and the introduction of . Then having HIV was considered a death sentence. , defined as individuals who acquired HIV before 1996 and the introduction of HAART — Highly Active Anti Retroviral Therapy.
The selection of the June 5 date for this annual observance coincides with the anniversary of the first official reporting in 1981 of what became known as the AIDS epidemic. June 5, 2022, is the 41st anniversary of that announcement and is considered the start of the AIDS pandemic.
LKA is the lead sponsor of the day. The website is https://www.hltsad.org
It is an official AIDS Awareness Day https://www.hiv.gov/events/awareness-days/hiv-long-term-survivors-day.
We are powerful advocates for Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U).
#UequalsU means People Living with HIV/AIDS on effective treatment can’t pass the virus on to a partner. . Tez Anderson is a UequalsU Ambassador https://www.preventionaccess.org/ambassadors
LKA is also dedicated to fighting ageism.
Negative and inaccurate stereotypes about older people are called “ageism,” which leads to invisibility. Invisibility is deadly for Older Adults with HIV.
Fight #AIDSAgeism.
HLTSAD.org
History
Our first town hall was on September 18, 2013. The planning took place over many months of planning. More than 200 packed the room at the LGBT Center. It was and is our goal to engage the people in the room. To listen and take notes. We understand that power comes from our grassroots.
Watch the video of that first town hall. It runs for two-hours but it is worth it.
Before our town hall — and the programs that followed — no agency in San Francisco or elsewhere had prioritized HIV Long-Term Survivors. We feel great about being the spark that began a movement. However, our goal is and always has been to kick AIDS Survivor Syndrome.
We are powerful advocates for changing the mindset from merely surviving to a focus on #HealthyAgingWithHIV. #LongTermSurvivors #HIVResilient #HLTSAD
