NYCAAP Talent Show Helps New Haven AIDS Counselor

The second annual Newtown Youth Creating AIDS Awareness for Peers (NYCAAP) AIDS Benefit Talent Show was recently held at Newtown High School. The show featured performances from singers, dancers, rappers, and bands, all of whom contributed their talents to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and funds for AIDS service projects.

The show raised $1,000, which was presented to Karina Danvers, an AIDS counselor and educator from New Haven, on April 4. Ms Danvers is trying to raise money to attend the XIII International World AIDS Conference in South Africa this summer to bring back information to further her work at the Nathan Smith Clinic in Yale-New Haven Hospital, the ATHENA Project, and other AIDS service organizations where she volunteers her time.

Mrs Danvers has been a friend of NYCAAP, which is a program of Newtown Youth Services, for two years, sharing her experiences living with AIDS and working to end the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS.

“Our struggle, plain and simple, is to ask our community to continue to be vigilant, safe, aware, and compassionate,” she said.

Ms Danvers recently hosted an urban/suburban peer AIDS educator dinner at her home for NYCAAP members and AIDS educators from Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven.