In 1983, a group of dedicated advocates started the largest and oldest HIV service organization in the Pacific, the Life Foundation. Spearheaded by Dr. David McEwan, businessman and LGBT activist Jack Law, and others, the Life Foundation was created to provide information, support, and sanctuary from the stigma, hate, and uncertainty surrounding the early days of HIV. With no official LGBTQ center, it served as a meeting place, a place of refuge, and a home for Hawaiʻi’s LGBTQ community.

In 2018, the Life Foundation merged with The CHOW Project, a community-based program focused on harm reduction, to form the Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction Center (HHHRC). This merger allowed for a broader scope of services, addressing issues such as substance use, mental health, and homelessness, while continuing the mission of reducing harm, promoting health, and fighting stigma in Hawai'i and the Pacific.

Today, Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction Center continues to be the largest organization in the Pacific dedicated to supporting people living with HIV. HHHRC provides access to prevention methods such as PrEP and rapid HIV antibody testing and continues to fight the stigma that many in our community face.

To honor of the 40th anniversary of the Life Foundation in 2023, HHHRC shared this video to document and preserve an important part of queer history in Hawai’i. Titled “40 Years of Life Foundation” the videos credits are: Directed and Edited by Alexander Bocchieri; Produced by Andrew Ogata: Cinematography by Kristle Backe; with Mahalo to the Hamilton Library at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa for access to the Dr. McEwan Collection on AIDS and the Life Foundation; and Special Thanks to Leilani Dawson, Manuscript Collections Archivist.