The Center’s Cheli Mohamed on the magic that volunteers bring to Dining Out for Life San Diego.
The San Diego LGBT Community Center has made it incredibly easy, and wildly fun, to make a difference in the fight against HIV.
Share a meal at that new place you’ve wanted to try = support HIV services at The Center. Invite your co-workers to lunch = help ensure effective HIV prevention efforts. Get a group of friends together for after-dinner cocktails = help end the stigma associated with the disease.
Thursday, April 27, San Diegans will again dine out to support HIV services and prevention programs at The Center as part of the 11th annual Dining Out for Life® San Diego.
This year, more than 70 restaurants and bars throughout San Diego will donate 25 percent or more of their food and liquor sales to the cause. (A full list is available on The Center’s Web site at thecentersd.org.)
“This day-long event is always inspirational,” said Ian Johnson, director of development for The Center. “By providing as many dining options as possible this adds to the excitement and success of this event. These participating restaurants help fight HIV in our community and also have an opportunity to showcase their venue to a new audience.”
Volunteers also contribute significantly to the success of Dining Out for Life and this year, Araceli (Cheli) Mohamed will be working to provide information and support to those volunteers.
Mohamed recently returned to The Center as director of Volunteer Services and Community Leadership Development. She’s a familiar face in the San Diego LGBT community, having previously served at The Center from 1995-2000 in various administrative and programmatic roles. For more than two decades, she has volunteered and worked with San Diego LGBT Pride and for 12 years with the Victory Fund, at both local events and at the organization’s national conference.
In her new role, Mohamed is focused on recruiting and training volunteers and ambassadors for this year’s Dining Out event.
“Volunteers are an essential ingredient in the success of Dining Out for Life,” Mohamed said. “Their enthusiasm and compassion help us raise much-needed funds for HIV services and prevention efforts. They also make a difference by bringing the issue of HIV to the forefront and helping end the stigma associated with the disease.”
San Diego LGBT Weekly recently asked Mohamed about her return to The Center, the importance of volunteers and the motivation behind her own volunteer service.
San Diego LGBT Weekly: What has it been like to come back to The Center in your new role?
Cheli Mohamed: Being back at The Center has been an incredible experience already. Reconnecting with old friends, incredible volunteers and devoted community members. It’s almost dream-like, feeling connected and inspired every day by the life-changing services that The Center offers. The spirit of community that is exemplified by The Center’s staff members is also incredibly motivating. Every day I come to The Center feeling like I can move mountains.
You’ve remained active as a community volunteer, and a leader in the area of volunteerism. What drives your own volunteer service, and what drives you to encourage and support others in their volunteer work?
My very first job after graduating college was at AIDS Foundation San Diego in 1994, at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis. I was hired as their bilingual volunteer training specialist. My job was to work with health service providers and community organizations that were working with our HIV/AIDS-impacted community on developing volunteer programs to assist them in providing services to and support for people fighting, and I mean fighting for their life.
Clients were dying daily, wasting away, rejected by family and friends, losing their jobs and their homes. The volunteer program at AIDS Foundation required a 16-hour training (two full days of trainings). You would have thought that would be a turn off. Yet every month we had almost 45-50 volunteers going through the training. Volunteers devoted dozens of hours to assist with the food bank, legal clinic, community outreach and education and staff the hotline.
But the most important thing was simply being present and offering hope. You could often see volunteers simply sitting down with our clients, talking, crying sometimes just holding them. You see, by the time they got to the Foundation, they had sometimes lost everything! Volunteers offered a welcoming smile, a warm hug, held their hand. They didn’t retreat when they saw their visually weakening bodies. Volunteers offered hope.
I have never been able to walk away from that feeling of hope, and feeling that volunteers are truly the catalysts for change and that feeling is incredibly empowering. I am a volunteer junkie. When I am not at work or with my family, I am volunteering and I drag my kids (all four of them!) into my volunteer work. Whether it’s making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and delivering them to the homeless downtown or painting murals at the San Diego River Conservancy, feeding seniors or answering hundreds of questions at San Diego Pride’s Info Booth, picking up trash at countless beach cleanups or simply serving donuts at church, making that connection with people, accepting them for who they are, seeing a flicker of hope in their eyes. It makes every moment precious and appreciated.
Why do you think volunteers are so important to The Center overall and specifically for Dining Out for Life?
I think the magic that volunteers bring to The Center, and especially to Dining Out for Life, is hope. Volunteers bring the mission and vision of The Center to life. They bring such dedication and devotion to our programs, clients and community at large. They make time in their busy schedules and balance work and family to include their community service hours to The Center. They make The Center part of their lives.
When a volunteer approaches your table during Dining Out for Life, they are prepared to share why The Center is critical to the community. The volunteers educate patrons about the HIV services we provide, but most importantly, about the impact on the quality of life that our programs have on individuals. They are there because they believe!
What are the volunteer opportunities for people to get involved in Dining Out for Life?
There are a number of ways people can help support Dining Out for Life. Before the event, we need volunteers to help distribute posters to restaurants and businesses to raise awareness of the event, and of which restaurants are participating.
You can also serve as an ambassador, which means you’ll host and welcome guests to your assigned restaurant, answer questions about the event and help with our annual drawing. The ambassadors also approach all the tables at the restaurant and explain the event to guests and ask for additional donations.
The day of the event is a busy one, and we need runners to assist in getting materials to and from restaurants. We also have a Balloon Brigade that assists with inflating hundreds of balloons and placing them at participating restaurants. Our goal is to see a sea of red!
Johnson added, “Last year we started the balloon placement at each participating location. Yes, each location! I wanted community members to be able to drive down the street and know what their options were for Dining Out for Life and to give some recognition to those restaurants participating and giving back. What better symbol of HIV awareness than the color red. Dining Out for Life San Diego has energy throughout the city and driving down the street and seeing red balloons in front of over 70 restaurants adds to the experience,” he said.
How can potential volunteers get connected for Dining Out for Life?
They can call or email me! They can also register to volunteer online (http://www.thecentersd.org/events/volunteer-dofl.html). We also ask our volunteers to attend a one-hour training prior to the event. It’s fun, and a great way to get involved and meet other fantastic people.
What would you say to people who have thought about volunteering in the past, but haven’t yet made the call, sent the email or come in for a training?
Every volunteer represents a flicker of hope. Think about what Harvey Milk said — “Without hope the US’s give up. I know that you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living and you, and you and you have got to give them hope!”
Anyone interested in becoming a Dining Out for Life® volunteer or ambassador can contact Cheli Mohamed at 619-692-2077, ext. 202 or at volunteer@thecentersd.org. Upcoming volunteer trainings will take place on Thursday, April 13 at 5:30 p.m. at Baja Betty’s, 1421 University Ave. and on Saturday, April 15 at 10 a.m. at The Center, 3909 Centre St.
