You’ll have to cut calories all week before you can attend this Sunday’s evening of indulgence—but it’s for a damn good cause.
In celebration of their 30th year of service, Sabreena Unlimited is hosting a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for the AIDS Food Store of Long Beach on July 13.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a leading-edge order of queer nuns dedicated to community service, ministry, and outreach, will be making an entertaining appearance, along with drag performers Sabreena and Jacki Karmichael. Unbutton your pants for a proper good time, especially if you plan to participate in the beer bust and dessert auction with confections by Sir Cakes a Lot. It’s okay, you can sing it: “I like big cakes and I cannot lie!”
Attendees can also enter a raffle for a chance to win two all-access passes to the Q Film Festival, provided by the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach, amongst other prizes.
John Newell, president of the AIDS Food Store, has been a volunteer for the past five years, became a member of the board and was elected for president in October of last year.
“Food is something I found really unites people,” Newell said. “We have lots of celebrations that all revolve around food, food is something that everybody needs and everybody relates to. As president, I’ve been working on really getting the greater Long Beach community aware that there is still a need to feed people with HIV/AIDS. I’ve been trying to do more community outreach to involve not just the LGBTQ community but those outside of that community as well.”
Newell takes both is philosophy of food and his leadership role seriously, seeking to educate all of Long Beach about how important the AIDS Food Store is for not just its patrons, but everyone.
“Luckily with the advancement of education people are living a lot longer and it’s become a very manageable disease, what we’re seeing now though is that people are not dying of HIV/AIDS, they’re dying instead of opportunistic cancers,” Newell said. “Instead of seeing our clients for a month or two, we’re seeing them for years because they have the medication to live a healthier life. Sometimes they can’t hold down a job because of their illness so we can give the food that we need.”
Discussing the spaghetti fundraiser, Newell spoke highly of Sabreena and Jackie, “They offered to do this event for us completely on their own. They are so much fun and are so good at what they do. We’re going to be feeding people and educating people and letting people know about the food store, it’s going to be a wonderful evening.”
More 30th Anniversary events can be found on the AIDS Food Store of Long Beach’s website, including the upcoming bowling competition on July 20.
A Spaghetti Dinner will be happening at The Silver Fox, located at 411 Redondo Ave.,on July 13 from 4PM to 8PM at The Silver Fox. The spaghetti dinner is $10 a plate and includes a garden salad and garlic bread. All proceeds will benefit the AIDS Food Store, an organization dedicated to providing nourishment to those with and affected by HIV/AIDS in Long Beach.