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Michael Deighan : one of the four founding members of Nightsweats & T-cells. Michael is the production manager of the screenprinting facility in Kent, Ohio. He is also a prolific designer. Nightsweats & T-cells shares this space with Michael's original business Premiere Screening. Michael is a longterm survivor of HIV/AIDS.
"I have always viewed the original purpose of Nightsweats & T-cells, the vision of Paul Monette, Victor Brown, Honey and myself to be the most moving. That purpose is to put strong messages about AIDS on garments that people would wear. These messages could not be ignored. If I were standing in line at the grocery store and you were standing next to me you could no longer choose to ignore the death of all those whom I had lost. I am by nature a quiet person. This purpose has given me a voice, a powerful voice!"
Gil Kudrin : the driving force behind "taking our show on the road!" Gil began reaching outside our community in 1992, to give people living with AIDS in other communities the same employment options that we have enjoyed. Gil has given his lecture "Employment – A Treatment Option That Works!" nearly 100 times. He has also taken us from press type to a state of the art grahic design computer system.
"For me the stories that come back to us about the effect that our shirts have had on people living with AIDS and those who love them is the most rewarding part of my work and seeing the shirts sewn into quilt panels!! I have conducted no less than 15,000 one-on-one informal interviews with people living with HIV/AIDS since 1992. Almost every person let me know how lucky I am to have such an outlet for my work, I never tire of hearing that!"
Gordy Moore : started his career in the garment industry as a buyer for the San Francisco "Saks Fifth Avenue". He then moved on to the gay cultural icon during the 1970's - 1980's "The All American Boy" stores. The San Francisco store became so successful that he went on to manage the West Hollywood "The All American Boy" and create "The All American Boy" store on Christoper Street in New York City. His creativity and knowledge has been essential to the shop. Gordy was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS in December of 1984.
"Nightsweats & T-cells has allowed me the luxury of using my creative abilities in an industry that I have always loved, regardless of how much or how long I could work. The financial help has allowed me to enjoy parts of my life I once thought only available to those in traditional employment situations. I have flowers on my porch in the spring, I travel to health conferences that help me to remain educated about my disease and I have Christmas, that is not something many people with AIDS can expect."
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Custom Screenprinting: you provide the design we manage the production on a wide range of products for your annual fund raising or special event. Tired of t-shirts? We're not, but we do enjoy product and identity design.
Design Services: you provide us basic info and we make it sing. Logo, business cards and stationery, t-shirts, coffee mugs, signs, posters, marketing plans, print ads and keep an eye out for our new Web Design Factory.
Wholesale: our own preprints are available for your store or your fund raising events.
Speakers Bureau: you can have the short version of "Employment – A Treatment Option That Works" or go for the day long seminar. In Madison, Wisconsin they went for the day long seminar and there were people with HIV/AIDS on their way to their new jobs the next morning!
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New York News Day, 22 June 19994, Frank DeCaro, "The Gay Games New York City"
"A year and a half ago, Jeff Boone, 30, retired from his regular job doing visual merchandising for a department store. "I was waiting to die", he says, "then I found these people. It gives me a reason to get up in the morning."
"They should give a medal for that, too".
BOYZ, 17 December 1994, London, England
The Plain Dealer, 23 May 1995, Mary Strassmeyer, Cleveland, Ohio"Definitely an antidote to all those cheeky, chipper gay slogan t-shirts that have been around for the last year or two, a new range of t's from an american company called Nightsweats & T-cells run by HIV positive people certainly pull no punches they offer a hard hitting if not grim alternative (especially one with a ridiculously complicated maze with 'you are here' at one end and 'AIDS cure' at the other)."
Top"The Cleveland based company that employs only HIV positive people has just finished a specially designed t-shirt for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The white shirt has all of the Tony nominees' signatures.
"This is the eight year the organization has a shirt to be sold around the Tony Awards. And the first year it has used the Cleveland-based company. A spokeswoman said, 'It's the best yet'."
In October of 1992 Nightsweats & T-cells took its first road trip. We managed to secure a street vendors license in Washington D.C. during teh weekend that The AIDS Memorial Quilt was displayed around the Washington Monument. This was how we planned to pay for the employees trip to see their friends' and lovers' panels. When we began explaining the purpose of our organization to people who bought our t-shirts we were met with one voice from people living with HIV/AIDS. "This is so cool. I would love to work on the days that I am healthy, but I cannot find anyone to employ me with my physical limitations. Do you know of anything like this in my town? Will you franchise?"
We found that there was only one other employment project for people with AIDS and it was in New York City. Our two organizations became quick and close friends. In October of 1994 at The National Skills Building Conference in Atlanta, Georgia Gil Kudrin (Nightsweats & T-cells), Barbara Small and Michael Naimy (both from Multi Tasking Services of New York) co-presented "Employment – a Treatment Option That Works". Seven people out of 2,500 attended. What some people saw as a crushing disappointment was not viewed the same by the presenters. Especially when the National Skills Building Conference the follwing year was held in Los Angeles and the Executive Director of CarePoint in Oklahoma City presented on the employment project for people living with HIV/AIDS inspired by the 1994 lecture. An then there were three.
There are now similar projects as a result of our seminars in Hartford, Connecticut; Madison, Wisconsin; Anchorage, Alaska; and West Chester County, Pennsylvania. For more information call 1-800 589-8685. Ask for Gil and find a comfortable chair. He is more than a little enthusiastic about this aspect of our work!
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