Corporate Hero – NIKE

For two decades, NIKE has helped sustain Cascade AIDS Project as a funder, ally and staunch supporter in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Their leadership and creativity have made them a corporate example of what can be accomplished through partnership.

NIKE’s donation of over $750,000 in the last 20 years is evidence of their passionate commitment to the community and making a mark on this disease. For CAP, NIKE has been a long-term sponsor of events, donated large amounts of their products, organized numerous fundraising teams, volunteered hundreds of hours, had CAP staff speak on the NIKE campus and had staff on CAP’s Board of Directors. They are a major component of AIDS Walk Portland, donating all of the walk shirts and prizes, as well as having some of the top fundraising teams each year.

Robert Goman, NIKE’s Senior Director Product Presentation North America and one of the visionaries behind the #BETRUE brand, currently serves on the CAP Board of Directors.

Individual Hero – Kevin Cook

Over the years, Kevin Cook—also known as the luminary Poison Waters—has followed his two passions of volunteering and entertaining, successfully finding a balance between work and play and inspiring the community around him. His commitment to Cascade AIDS Project as a volunteer for the last 26 years is a true inspiration and example of what one person can do to impact the world around him.

In 1988 Kevin started volunteering for CAP in the Personal Active Listener program. Since then he has gone on to serve on numerous committees and boards of CAP and The Men’s Wellness Center, now Pivot. In 2014, Kevin attended his 14^th session of regional summer camp for HIV/AIDS affected children, first with Women’s Intercommunity AIDS Resource and now with CAP, and has been honored by the Coalition for AIDS Education, the International Court System and CAP for his volunteer hours. He’s now the Camp KC director and is the captain of the Camp KC walk team.

Kevin has been a donor since 1996 and has given over 2,260 hours of his time to CAP. He has served on the Board of Directors and currently serves on the Development Committee.

Research Hero – Dr. Louis Picker

Dr. Louis J. Picker is a vaccine expert changing the face of HIV/AIDS research. For almost 10 years, Dr. Picker and his team at Oregon Health & Science University have been working on a promising vaccine for an effective treatment of HIV/AIDS. His approach works to eliminate the virus entirely from the system, an effect that no other AIDS treatment vaccine has shown before.

The net effect is a renewed hope in a field that has collectively been working long and hard on a cure for this disease. Dr. Picker’s promising work was awarded a $25 million grant from the Gates Foundation. The grant is one of the largest ever received by OHSU.