The red carpet was rolled out at the historical home of Dr. Nabeela Rasheed on May 2 for AIDS Legal Council of Chicago's ( ALCC's ) first-ever May Ball.
Guests came dressed to impress to the venue, which was recently featured on the HGTV television network. The enormous house party featured food, wine and champagne and dancing to the DJ's music through the evening. "May Ball: Mission in Bloom" was not just celebration of the nice weather finally arriving. It was a birthday party of sorts and a soft launch of the organization's new umbrella nameLegal Council for Health Justice ( LCHJ ).
"We think that 'Legal Council' builds on the past history of AIDS Legal Council of Chicago and 'Health Justice' is what we're striving for for our clients," said Executive Director Tom Yates in announcing the new umbrella title. "We're really trying to expand the work we're doing for people with HIV/AIDS. In addition, we're adding work for kids with chronic health care conditions and folks who are homeless with severe mental illness."
The council was founded 27 years ago and provides free, immediate legal assistance to low-income people with HIV. In early 2014, the organization expanded its work through two long-standing legal assistance programs. One program assists people who are at risk of homelessness and the other provides legal help to children with disabilities and their families.
The ALCC name will not completely disappear; it will expand to incorporate the new name and reflect the organization's projects. AIDS Legal Council, Homeless Outreach and Chicago Medical-Legal Partnership for Children are each a project of LCHJ. The organization is currently working on a new logo, website and other branding to go with their adjusted name.
All the event proceeds went to support LCHJ's legal projects that help low-income individuals with HIV, people at risk of homelessness, and children with disabilities. The celebration had many supporters and sponsors.
"It's growing and I think that it is really important to us that we're serving more clients than we ever have," said Kevin Mork, LCHJ's director of development. "It's not just a new name; it's who we are. One of the things we talk about is we provide legal care. We care for our clients. This became a celebration. There's reason to celebrate expansion, there's reason to celebrate growth, there's reason to celebrate stability and the legal council has been that for years. We're excited that we can still do that and serve more people who need our assistance."
For more information, visit www.aidslegal.com .