No one knows how important sexual health is among young adults more than HIV West Yellowhead’s Devon Blackstock. For the past eight years, the 23-year-old Jasperite has been volunteering with the organization to promote healthy relationships and responsible sexual behaviour among teens.
Blackstock feels strongly about the subject because sexual health is something her peers don’t often consider.
“In this job, I’ve come across many people that have very little understanding of sexual health and how to protect themselves, and that is scary,” explained Blackstock, who started working as HIV West Yellowhead’s summer programmer in May.
“Alberta has the highest STI rates in the country, and Jasper is no exception to that statistic. Mistakes can and will happen if you’re not careful.”
Blackstock’s job includes coordinating promotional events and collecting data for HIV West Yellowhead’s Safe is Sexy campaign. The campaign is geared toward young adults in Jasper and includes an anonymous survey about sexual health. The results are included in HIV West Yellowhead’s research, and intended for use in literature that aims to bridge the gap between perceptions and reality regarding sexual practices and sexual health.
Another crucial aspect of Blackstock’s job is outreach.
“Outreach at bars usually means I’m out dancing with Captain Condom—which is exactly what it sounds like, a volunteer dressed up as a condom,” she said.
“It was a little embarrassing at first but now we just go dance and pass out condoms—if it looks silly that’s fine. As a single young woman, I know very well how important it is to watch out for myself, because no one else is going to do it for me. And if I can get that message across to young adults—that they have to be responsible for themselves—then I’m doing my job properly.”
Blackstock shares her passion for advocacy with the organization’s executive director, Andrea Watson. The pair, and HIV West Yellowhead’s staff, have been hard at work organizing the Dine 4 Life fundraiser, which will be held at participating restaurants in Jasper, Edson and Hinton on July 19.
The event, formerly known as Servers Against AIDS Day, currently includes eight local restaurants, each of which donate a percentage of the evening’s sales to HIV West Yellowhead and the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
Servers at each establishment also have the option of donating their tips, which are matched by their employers.
Last year local establishments raised $3,800 in support of the organizations, and this year Watson is hoping residents, tourists and local businesses will continue their support.
“It’s our most important fundraiser of the year so we are really grateful for the support we continue to receive from the community,” said Watson.
“People seem to tip more because they know their money is going to a really good cause.”
“We know it’s a lot to ask of the servers to donate their tips, even for one night,” Blackstock noted. “But a lot of servers in our community are within the demographic we serve: youth, so part of what we are trying to do with this event is to engage the population that uses our services and give them a chance to give back to the community.”
Watson said the campaign originally included restaurants in Banff, “but the campaign never really took off there.”
“Banff is really service driven, so I would have expected the campaign to be successful but for whatever reason we didn’t get the enthusiasm there. So for businesses in Jasper to be so supportive in such an open manner, is just such a great thing.”
To find out more about Dine 4 Life or to participate, contact Blackstock at [email protected].
Erin Christie
Special to the Fitzhugh
