If you answered yes to both of these questions, you would make a great Ambassador for the AIDS Council’s 7th Annual Dining Out for Life® event. On April, 29, 2009, participating restaurants will donate a minimum of 25% of their food sales to benefit the AIDS Council’s prevention and client services programs. Dining Out For Life® raises vital funds to provide services for people living with HIV/AIDS in our community.

In order to make this event a success, the AIDS Council is looking for fun, energetic people, who love to eat out to act as Ambassadors. Ambassadors perform two important roles in Dining Out For Life®:

1. Before the event, they encourage friends, family, business associates, clients and potential clients to dine out at their chosen restaurant on Dining Out For Life® day. We will help you with this by providing you with materials and an email invite that you can easily send out to all your contacts.

2. On the day of the event, Ambassadors serve as a representative for the AIDS Council at their chosen restaurant, greeting diners and thanking them for their participation – this is the fun part, especially since the Ambassador has filled the restaurant with people he or she already knows! (An Ambassador’s “shift” is generally a few hours during breakfast, lunch or dinner, based on the participating restaurant’s schedule and the Ambassador’s availability.)

We encourage you to partner with a co-Ambassador of your choice or we can pair you with someone. A training session will be provided. Restaurant selections will be determined on a first come, first served basis. To volunteer, please contact Melissa Brown, Special Event Coordinator, at 518.434.4686, Ext. 2415 or mbrown@aidscouncil.org.

The Once in a Blue Moon Gala - scheduled for Thursday, December 31, 2009 - is moving to a NEW VENUE. Our New Year’s Eve party will now be held at the elegant 11 North Pearl Event Centre, located near the intersection of North Pearl Street and State Street in Downtown Albany. Our friends at Classe Catering are providing not just a once-in-a-blue-moon opportunity to celebrate the New Year, but a once-in-a-lifetime chance to mark the AIDS Council’s 25th year of service to the community, by combining the Once in a Blue Moon Gala with their own Be Mesmerized New Year’s Eve party.

Ticketholders will receive the same benefits - and more! Now included in your ticket price are:

- Live dance music and featured performances
- Enhanced menu
- Premium Open Bar from 8 pm to 1 am
- Free valet parking

PLEASE NOTE: The event start time is now 8:00 am - and the ending time is now 3:00 am, so get ready to party well into the new decade….

ONLINE TICKET SALES ARE NOW CLOSED.

[Adapted from Farmers’ Almanac]

For more than half a century, whenever two full Moons appeared in a single month (which happens on average every 2 1/2 to 3 years), the second has been christened a “Blue Moon.” In our lexicon, we describe an unusual event as happening “Once in a Blue Moon.” This expression was first noted back in 1821 (although there are earlier references dating back to the 16th Century) and refers to occurrences that are uncommon, though not truly rare.

Why “Blue” Moon? For the longest time nobody knew exactly why the second full Moon of a calendar month was designated as a Blue Moon. One explanation connects it with the word “belewe” from the Old English, meaning “to betray.” Perhaps, then, the Moon was “belewe” because it betrayed the usual perception of one full Moon per month. However, in the March 1999 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, author Phillip Hiscock revealed one somewhat confusing origin of this term. It seems that the modern custom of naming the second full Moon of a month “blue,” came from an article published in the March 1946 Sky & Telescope magazine. The article was “Once in a Blue Moon,” written by James Hugh Pruett. In this article, Pruett interpreted what he read in a publication known as the Maine Farmers’ Almanac [no relation to the current Farmers’ Almanac, published in Lewiston, Maine], and declared that a second full Moon in a calendar month is a “Blue Moon.”

However, after reviewing the Maine Farmer’s Almanac, Hiscock found that during the editorship of Henry Porter Trefethen (1932 to 1957), the Maine Farmers’ Almanac made occasional reference to a Blue Moon, but derived it from a completely different (and rather convoluted) seasonal rule. As simply as can be described, according to Trefethen’s almanac, there are normally three full Moons for each season of the year. But when a particular season ends up containing four full Moons, then the third of that season is called a Blue Moon! To make matters more confusing, the beginning of the seasons listed in Trefethen’s almanac were fixed. In other words, the current use of “Blue Moon” to mean the second full Moon in a month can be traced to a 55-year-old mistake in Sky & Telescope magazine.

Regardless of whether it’s a true Blue Moon or not, Thursday, December 31, 2009 is a “once in a Blue Moon” opportunity to say goodbye to 2009 and welcome in 2010 in style, while helping the AIDS Council mark the end of its 25th year of service. To reserve your place at the Once in a Blue Moon Gala, click HERE, or call 518.434.4686 Ext. 2428.

The Once in a Blue Moon Gala is black tie optional, but, if you’re planning to dress to the NINES, you can save TEN!

Rent your formal wear from Waldorf Tuxedo (corner of Lark and Lancaster in Albany) and let them know you’re attending the Blue Moon Gala, and they’ll take $10 off your bill!

Be sure to tell them THANKS for supporting the AIDS Council of Northeastern New York!

Click here to purchase tickets or for more information.

Many volunteers are still needed this holiday season to participate in fund raising and outreach projects on behalf of the AIDS Council of Northeastern New York.

Help Fight AIDS Through Books and Music, a volunteer project on behalf of the AIDS Council, is again holding book gift wrapping and Entertainment Book and plush animal sale events at Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza and Crossgates Mall from now through Christmas Eve.

All proceeds help meet emergency or special needs of people living with HIV/AIDS served by the AIDS Council.

To volunteer or for more information, call 518-482-5602, e-mail Volunteer Coordinator Steve Kozlowski at steve@helpfightaids.com, or visit www.HelpFightAIDS.com.

The AIDS Council thanks everyone who supported the 15th Annual Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Celebration on Thursday, November 19, 2009. Your generosity helped us have our best Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Celebration ever, with more than $82,000 raised for the event. Funds will provide emergency assistance to the AIDS Council’s clients, and will also support the agency’s prevention outreach and education.

Many thanks to our Honorary Chairs, Rudy Grant and David Siders, our Presenting Sponsor, Times Union, our Wine Glass Sponsor, Town Total Health, and all our generous sponsors, Honorary Committee, live and silent auction donors, and everyone who attended.

Special thanks to W.J. Deutsch & Sons, Ltd, Barefoot Wine & Bubbly, and P3 Placid Vodka for providing fine wine and spirits. Thanks also to John LeRoy and Tango Fusion Dance Company for our live entertainment and to Rodney Agan, Surroundings Floral Studio, and Seagroatt-Riccardi for the exquisite floral arrangements.

Finally, a tremendous round of applause to the biggest stars of the evening: the restaurants! Each and every participating restaurant and caterer went above and beyond this year to provide our attendees with samplings of our region’s finest cuisine. Merci!

For photos from the 15th Annual Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Celebration, please visit our Facebook page.

We want to hear from you! We are conducting a survey on our 15th Annual Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Celebration, which will help us evaluate this year’s event and plan for next year. To take the survey, click HERE.

The AIDS Council of Northeastern New York has launched a regional HIV/STD Awareness Campaign with the release of a Public Service Announcement created by area at-risk teens. The Public Service Announcement – entitled “The Price Is Your Life” – was conceived, developed, scripted, performed and produced by at-risk youth from Equinox, Inc., Rensselaer Education Center Questar III, and X-Quest, with assistance from L&P Media. The AIDS Council premiered the Public Service Announcement on Monday, November 30, 2009 to mark World AIDS Day (December 1, 2009) and the end of its 25th year of service to the community. The press conference took place at the AIDS Council’s Albany office, located at 927 Broadway.

The premiere of the Public Service Announcement served as the launch for a larger Youth HIV/STD Awareness Campaign produced by the AIDS Council. The Public Service Announcement will initially be available for viewing on the internet, followed by a sustained television, radio and billboard campaign. Funding for the Youth HIV/STD Awareness Campaign was made possible by a Federal Earmark from former Congresswoman and current United States Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and former Congressman Michael R. McNulty.

Gloria Baker, Secretary of the AIDS Council’s Board of Directors, provided statistics at the press conference that reflected the need for the Youth HIV/STD Awareness Campaign. “The AIDS Council saw a 33% increase in the number of youth living with HIV/AIDS – ages 21 and under – we served in the past year, along with a 37% increase in the number of HIV-negative at-risk youth we served,” said Baker. “Even more distressing is the news that among 15-19 year olds, Schenectady County has one of the highest gonorrhea rates in the state, and Albany & Schenectady County youth have one of the highest Chlamydia rates in the state as well. Across New York State, females age 15-19 are 3 times more likely to contract a sexually transmitted disease than their male counterparts.”

Michele McClave, the AIDS Council’s Executive Director, acknowledged the need for the Youth HIV/STD Awareness Campaign: “On the eve of World AIDS Day 2009, the AIDS Council is more determined than ever to stop the spread of HIV, and we look to our community to help us spread the message that HIV/AIDS is still here, that there is no cure on the horizon, and that only through a shared community response will we make progress against this devastating public health epidemic. Our message must reach our youth now, or else we run the risk of history repeating itself generation after generation.”

“The Price Is Your Life” Public Service Announcement is available for viewing at www.ThePriceIsYourLife.com, as well as on the AIDS Council’s main agency website (www.aidscouncil.org) and the AIDS Council’s adolescent-focused website (www.hivoutreach2teens.com).