A critical component of changes at LCCP was the board expansion last April to include the first male board member.
Paul Fairchild is a familiar face at GLBT community events. As a longtime donor to LCCP, he is an obvious choice to make history as the agency's first gay male board member. Fairchild is Vice President for Communications & Development for Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights, and he joined LCCP's board in April, just as the agency faced its worst financial crisis since its founding more than a dozen years ago.
'My mother is a breast cancer survivor,' Fairchild said in explaining his interest in LCCP. 'Renae Ogletree is one of my dearest friends, Vernita Gray—there are a lot of women in my life who have been affected by cancer over the years. I have been in a caretaking role in that situation.'
'I feel real strongly that men need to support women's organizations. Women have supported gay men in their struggle with health issues since the beginning, and many of us are in a place now where we're able to be supportive of the women's community, and I think we should.'
Fairchild is in charge of LCCP's board recruitment and retention committee.
'I am so proud to be a part of an organization that was able to be honest and forthright about the situation we found ourself in,' Fairchild said of LCCP's financial crisis. 'In three months, we raised $80,000, with only one of those $10,000, the rest were less. I can tell you, as a fundraiser, for an organization which has never done individual gifts, that's only done fundraising from events, that's extraordinary. I think it sends a loud message not just to LCCP, but the community, that a women's health organization is very important to the community.'
As for the agency's future, Fairchild said 'we certainly want to stay true to our mission, and we would like to find a partner or partners where our mission will continue and our work will continue, and that we can maintain an identity. I don't mean LCCP, necessarily, but the issues. As a community, we need to consolidate for strength. We can't continue to support so many organizations, we need to find how to come together as gays and lesbians, women, etc.'
— Tracy Baim