DAP HEALTH’S 2023 STEVE CHASE HUMANITARIAN AWARDS

BY DANIEL VAILLANCOURT

The Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards, DAP Health’s biggest annual fundraiser, also fondly known as The Chase returns to dazzle donors outdoors at the Palm Springs Convention Center on the evening of Saturday, March 25. Fashion, medicine, and music will take center stage at the starry annual benefit gala.

Created by (and named after) the late, world-renowned interior designer Steve Chase — an early DAP Health donor, volunteer, and board member who worked touring the globe but loved Palm Springs best — this glittery gala is a golden star on the desert’s social calendar.

“Your presence at The Chase, beyond signaling your support for our honorees, shows your continued commitment to DAP Health’s 10,000+ patients and clients,” says DAP Health CEO David Brinkman. “Every attendee can count themselves among the bighearted humanitarians who help remove roadblocks to quality care and supportive services for their neighbors and friends so that everyone may live life to their fullest potential.”

Though it began as Desert AIDS Project in 1984 to fulfill the needs of people gripped by the HIV crisis, DAP Health — which was recently rebranded and has long been designated as a federally qualified health center (FQHC) — has opened its doors wide to every individual in the Coachella Valley. The advocacybased, culturally competent nonprofit now provides everything from primary, HIV/AIDS, dental, gender-affirming, sexual, women’s, and mental health care to housing, food assistance, recovery, and harm reduction services. No one is ever turned away for inability to pay.

Vision Forward — the agency’s 10-year strategic plan that will see it grow to serve 25,000 patients annually by 2025 — has completed 90% of its fundraising, with more than $6 million still needed to complete the expansion of its physical and programmatic footprint.