During the early days of the AIDS epidemic, long before the life-saving drug cocktail came in, services were sparse, confusion reigned, and intrepid volunteers launched a seat-of-the-pants effort to provide basic needs, beginning with daily delivery of a hot meal for those who were homebound.

The volunteers were fortified and inspired by the quiet gallantry and determination of the people they visited.  The clients ran the whole gamut – rich, more often poor, serene, dysfunctional, depressed, amusing, gay, straight and every subtle shade in between. People with little in common, except that their lives were unraveling and coming to an end.

I had the good fortune, the privilege even, of visiting all our new clients when they first requested the service. Technically I signed them up. Mostly I simply talked to them, sometimes for minutes, sometimes for hours. I listened, commiserated, hugged, laughed – even cried. Many was the day that ended with the shoulder of my shirt wet from tears.

The people I met were extraordinary, finding courage amid adversity, joy amid sadness, laughter amid grief, serenity amid despair, and quiet dignity amid turmoil.  But their quiet determination, their gentleness and their laughter were, of their nature, private, unseen by most, hidden behind the walls of their homes.

There is a real possibility that those people and their stories would remain untold, their valor unsung, the whole extraordinary experience of those years lost to history.  So I wrote down some of their stories. 

But I also realized that the conversations were worthy of a much wider audience than a man with a clipboard.  So I invited many of them to a TV studio where they got to tell the stories themselves.

It is amazing how inspiration, joy and laughter can be found in the most unexpected places.  So I invite you to browse through these many videos or read some of their stories.  These glimpses of private lives, in video and print, are an effort to ensure that a few of these courageous people, at least, are not forgotten.