Pat Dozer

Pat Dozer is the co-founder of the all-volunteer Sue Kuhlen Camp for Kids, Inc. This organization is the only recreational experience for the children of South Carolina living with HIV/AIDS. Today, the organization serves 74 families throughout the state of South Carolina. The camp is set up so that the children are provided with one event per month where they can put aside the societal pressures that comes with HIV/AIDS diagnosis and 'just be kids'.

The organization runs out of the transformed room-to-office in Pat Dozer's home and is funded through grants and private donations. It is an all-volunteer organization with no paid staff. Each volunteer before coming to an event must take part in a 4-hour orientation which covers the basics of HID/AIDS, its transmission and the psychosocial issues that come with diagnosis.

There are more than 270 individuals orientated in the Columbia, SC metropolitan area. Some 100 volunteers have been oriented in the low country area of South Carolina and each year Dozer travels to the AmeriCorps NCCC Charleston Base to orient more than 100 new AmeriCorps volunteers.