Back in the late 1980s, after reading Elizabeth Glaser’s book, In the Absence of Angels, Elaine felt compelled to focus the Taylor’s fundraising activities towards supporting HIV/AIDS kids who fell through the cracks. Barry and Elaine attended an Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation fundraising event to see if they would be a good fit, and found themselves to be the only non-celebrities there. After meeting with Glaser, they decided that the foundation’s mission, which was to find a cure for AIDS, didn’t resonate with Elaine’s desire to provide services for Pediatric AIDS patients.  

After returning from that fundraiser, Elaine picked up the phone, calling at least 10 hospitals in the Bay Area. She kept getting referred to Children’s Hospital Oakland (CHO). When she called CHO, the switchboard connected her with Michaele O’Leary BSN, who was the HIV Coordinator. After learning what Elaine wanted to do, she connected her with Ann Petru MD Director of the HIV/AIDS Program.

The relationship almost ended right there. Elaine didn’t want the money to go to the hospital, but to go towards providing services for the kids. The hospital didn’t know how to make that work. After some discussion, they came to an agreement, and the hospital set up an account that Petru, who was treating hundreds of Bay Area children with HIV/AIDS at CHO, would manage.

Fast forward to 2020, and like TTFF, Petru, now Director of Infectious Diseases, finds herself embroiled in another pandemic. While COVID has mostly spared children, the hardships that families are enduring because of the pandemic, like housing and food insecurity, directly threatens the kids in our communities.  TTFF hunkered down this year to help those families with medically fragile kiddos maneuver these threatening situations.