Last week, the administration and staff of erstwhile AIDS charity Face to Face gathered donors and all their nearest and dearest at Santa Rosa’s Vintners Resort to present a new brand identity and mission tagline. The new logo consists of two linked letters “f” contraposed within an open square, and the new line declares that “our community is our mission.”
Like most transformative rites, this breakfast ceremony simply made official a change that has already taken place. Face to Face has pursued the incurable syndrome over the years through its vectors of infection into a holistic medical approach that might include housing assistance along with PrEP. Change is in the DNA of this nonprofit, which began as a “death with dignity” AIDs Hospice in the 1980s. Today, the executive director is Sara Brewer.
CH: Sara, what motivates this rebranding?
SB: With the goal of keeping people engaged in their HIV medical care, we have expanded services—and people don’t know that. We are and will always be the HIV organization, but we do so much more. This rebrand is about fundraising, but more importantly, it is about people accessing our full range of services.
CH: Could you list your services for us?
SB: HIV and STI testing, condoms, access to PrEP and PEP, support groups for people living with HIV, housing assistance, financial assistance, sterile injection and sterile smoking supplies, fentanyl test strips, safe drug testing, Narcan opioid overdose prevention, drug harm reduction classes.
We have our main location on 2nd Street in Santa Rosa, a 24/7 vending machine for these supplies, syringe-safe drop-off locations in high-traffic areas and a mobile van that currently visits 18 sites around the county. We can connect you to treatment; we can connect you to prevention; we can connect you to community.
CH: Those services put you at the forefront of the opioid crisis—something people might not realize. Sara, could you tell us about your staff?
SB: We are an eclectic, diverse group. We don’t have a shared identity, but we are all brought together by compassion and a passion for supporting each other and community and honoring and dignifying people for whom they are. And there is a certain “bootstrappiness” that comes with that mission.
How to get involved. This is the perfect time, as Face to Face works among the houseless, immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities that will be even more vulnerable in the next four years. Follow this url, linktr.ee/facetofacelinks, to learn about their services or donate.
