| 7.19.2006
 
THERE ARE FEW joys in life like an open bar.
Just ask the folks over at Joining Hearts, Atlanta's long-running party that's raised over $700,000 for AID Atlanta and Jerusalem House since its inception 18 years ago.
"We prefer to call it a hosted bar," says event chair Patrick Teague. "But it's a hosted bar for seven hours with two fantastic DJs."
Po-tay-to, po-tah-to. Either way, Joining Hearts has built an impeccable reputation for being one hell of a party for one hell of a good cause.
This year, the event makes its way back to the beloved poolside venue in Piedmont Park on July 22, as organizers hope to improve the record-setting $74,000 donation made last year at their Atlanta Civic Center locale.
"Every ticket we sell, every dime we take in goes to the donations," Teague says. "We give 100 percent of every ticket, and that's what makes us unique."
This year’s DJ line-up includes DJ Jody Lirette, who left Atlanta a while back for New York. He returned to the ATL with a reputation for spinning at some of the NYC’s hottest Fire Island parties and T-dances. Lirette also served as a Joining Hearts host (a donating volunteer), and Teague says having a “local hero” open the event may become an event tradition.
HEADLINING JOINING HEARTS is national favorite DJ Joe Gauthreaux, who attended the party last year and spun at the unofficial afterparty at Jungle, an honor that goes this time to last year's Joining Hearts headliner DJ David Knapp.
“It’s actually perfect for me to be doing it this year because I just played a pool party during the Winter Party in Miami this year,” Gauthreaux says. “I walked out of the booth feeling happy with my set, and I got so much positive feedback about the atmosphere at the party. I'm already in that mode this year, playing a little bit on the lighter side.”
The DJs may be the main attraction (besides the “hosted bar” and notorious slew of sexy men all dressed for the beach), the event certainly couldn’t go on with out the army of 30 volunteers needed to make a successful event.
Attendance numbers for the past two years dropped slightly, even though donation totals were through the roof. But all signs point to a packed house this year, as the last poolside party in 2003 entertained capacity crowds: 1,250 to be exact.
The party moved from its Piedmont Park home due to the incredible amount of work required to transform the space into a party palace. When organizers tried to take on the "blank canvas" at the Civic Center, it was more work than they'd bargained for.
CHANGE IS GOOD when it comes to Joining Hearts. In the past 18 years, the event has moved locations and even shifted the type of event. But one thing hasn’t shifted at all: the dedication to serving the needs of AIDS housing non-profits.
 When 12 friends saw a continuing need for AIDS funds in 1987, they approached AID Atlanta and asked where they could help most. The answer was in housing assistance for people living with the virus.
"We've never veered from our mission because we've never been able to give so much money that the problem goes away," Teague says.
Ellen O. McCarty, executive director of Jerusalem House, a beneficiary for about six years now, says the dollars raised at the annual parties make the organization a "life line" of funding.
"When I see these people, the Joining Hearts folks, I see the epitome of the spirit of community and community giving," McCarty says. "They get nothing but the reward of knowing they've done something for their community, and I admire and respect them for that."
McCarty says the funds donated by Joining Hearts, which last year totaled nearly $40,000, go to maintain two physical properties that house 57 men, women and children with HIV/AIDS.
"The party is very festive, and it's a lot of fun, but there's a real spirit of accomplishment," she says. "You can feel it. They're proud, as they should be, of what they've accomplished."
Joining Hearts rolls on July 22 from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the Piedmont Park Pool. www.JoiningHearts.org, www.jerusalemhouse.org, www.aidatlanta.org
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