Dorothy Mann's work helping those with AIDS nets agency's 'Favorite Straight Person' award

IT'S A STORY Dorothy Mann has never forgotten, one that drives her even today:

In the late 1980s, as HIV's ugly stain began to spread to women and children, the Family Planning Council, the nonprofit organization Mann leads, held focus groups to find out what help community members needed.

"There was a grandmother who had been taking care of her HIV-infected grandson because his mother was a drug user," Mann recalled recently. "The grandmother said, 'I need help. I just buried my grandson in a cooler because I didn't have the money for a proper funeral.'

"I'll never forget it."

She never has.

When Mann joined the Family Planning Council in 1977, its mission was purely that: family planning. But over the last 33 years, she's expanded the agency's scope to include innovative HIV/AIDS programs, health services to the poor and uninsured, aid to domestic violence victims, and outreach to any population that is marginalized or not considered part of the mainstream.

"It doesn't matter to me how much money you have or the color of your skin," Mann said. "You deserve the same things I have as a middle-class white woman, and I'm going to work my butt off and use every bit of talent I have to make that happen."

To honor her for her efforts fighting HIV/AIDS, AIDS Fund is recognizing her this month as 2010's "Favorite Straight Person of the Year."

She'll be honored at a Black-Tie GayBINGO event Friday night at the Crystal Tea Room. The event will feature dinner, dancing, and, of course, bingo, with numbers called and verified by the BVDs - Bingo Verifying Divas, the colorful drag queens who run the show.

"In the early years, HIV and AIDS was seen as a gay disease," said Robb Reichard, AIDS Fund's executive director. "Dorothy got involved with HIV and AIDS issues early on and was a leader in the development of programs, services and education."

More than 30,000 people in the Delaware Valley are living with HIV or AIDS, according to AIDS Fund. One of the unique programs Mann's efforts has made available to them is Circle of Care, which allows hospitals to treat HIV-infected mothers and their children at the same time.

"We hope this [award] will bring more attention to the work Dorothy has done," Reichard said.

It's not easy to miss Mann, 69. Not because of her flamboyant dress style. When she met recently with some of the BVDs for a photo shoot, she was by far the most modestly attired. (Of course, Brian Strachan, aka "Miss Thunder Showers," wore a pink gown that was a knockoff of one worn by singer Diana Ross. He later said of Mann, "We're not sure who she is wearing, but she always wears it well. She's always an A-plus on the best dressed list - dressed or not."

It's not because of her size, either - she's a petite woman who wishes she could work out every morning but misses some. It's her larger-than-life personality: Brash at times, she shrugs off hate letters she gets - "It's not about me," she said.

She loves talking about her devout Philly sports fandom and her seven grandchildren. She got a tattoo at age 60 - a stingray on one breast, after she went swimming with sharks and stingrays. A reference to Philly politics, perhaps?

"When the door opens, you know she's here," said Renate Taylor, the council's director of development. "She walks in and she juggles. Cells phones are ringing and computers are going off and nine different people are waiting to address her and everybody feels they're important and everybody feels like their issue is going to be addressed."

Mann blames the '60s for her call to activism. She was in her 20s then, and the women's and civil rights movements shaped her personality.

"It's not rocket science," she said of what she does. "It's just fair."

She's seen so much unfairness, and that's prompted her to work. She recalled another case, where an HIV-infected women and her child were forced to live in their family's basement because of their disease. Mann helped develop a program to provide them - and others like them - with housing.

"We have created a fund to provide for funerals when we have to, to pay for electricity when we have to, to provide bunk beds to kids who don't have a place to sleep, to keep families together and healthy," she said. "That is what drives me. Some things should never happen again."

Mann stresses the emphasis on healthy, happy family within her own organization. When Philadelphia schools have a snow day, her office is closed so parents can stay home with their children. During the summer, those who have finished their work can leave early on Fridays to enjoy some family time.

Taylor got choked up while recalling Mann's phone call offering her the job in 2008. Taylor, a single mother, said she'd start the following Tuesday. Mann wasn't satisfied.

"She said, 'When do your girls go back to school?' " Taylor recounted softly, slowly, as if still amazed by the conversation. "I said, 'Thursday.' She said, 'I'll see you Thursday then.' So I didn't have to leave two kids home alone."

Mann said she's honored by the AIDS Fund's recognition.

"It's like, 'OK, you care about these communities. You've really worked hard. And they noticed. Woohoo! Somebody noticed!' " she said.

But recognition is not why she does her job.

"It's not for me, not for the agency," Mann said. "It's for that grandmother. For the woman in the basement. For that gay person who is misunderstood and discriminated against."

For more information about the 11th annual Black-Tie GayBINGO, go to www.aidsfundphilly.org.