6/16 ~ Don Lucas

1995 USAIDS 5,000
Post #17:
In retelling the stores of Erie, PA and Ohio, I will need to alter the dates, for reasons of cohesiveness, which will be more evident when I report on Toledo. But June 16th is the day I met Don Lucas, an extraordinary human being with great dignity, and more compassion for others than I can adequately report, here. (Each picture has more details.)

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Picture #031

Don Lucas, a proud Native American, Veteran and hard worker didn't fear sharing his story. He was critically inured in a motor accident, requiring him to receive blood, in the days before it was properly tested. He contracted HIV, and ultimately AIDS, due to that transfusion. Any normal married man, with children, who lost his career as the result of AIDS, from contaminated blood, might have carried a grudge with the Gay community. Exactly the opposite, he formed an organization in Erie, known as FRIENDS OF THE HEART, where any man, woman or child, with an HIV/AIDS diagnosis, regardless of lifestyle, could receive physical, financial and moral support, as much as was available, at the time. He also worked with St. Paul's Episcopal AIDS Ministry, as a volunteer, and was working toward opening a Drop-in Center, badly needed, then. Meanwhile, he and his own family struggled on limited disability, yet he insisted on buying dinner for Carl Lebman and me. He said, "You have to let me do what I can do; and I can do this." (Picture from June 17, 1995)
— with Don Lucas, Friends of the Heart

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Picture #031b

Writing for the Erie Gay Community Newsletter (even though he is not gay), Don Lucas tells the story of our meeting, and of him being my support vehicle the following day, better than I can tell it. I will share later, a story that didn't make it to the news, but was more revealing about the true nature of this gifted, generous and uplifting human being. As he explains, we did receive a lot of local media attention, and were able to do corporate challenges to help these fine organizations. (Picture from July 1995, courtesy of Bridges Publishing)