On Thursday, March 26^th, the world lost an incredible human being, and PWA lost a legend, Bill Handley.

Bill’s lasting impact on PWA is enormous.

Bill dedicated his life to helping people living with HIV/AIDS. In the 1980s, he looked after countless friends dying of AIDS. He would describe this time as relentless – waking up and starting his day checking on others before he went to work, on his lunch hour going to see them at the hospital, in their homes, changing their bedding, giving them a bath, and returning after work to make sure they had eaten enough during the day. This was how spent many years. Around this time, he started volunteering at PWA. But as he would describe, the amount of people that died was so enormous, he needed to step back and recover from tirelessly taking care of others.

It wasn’t long before the call to service brought him back to PWA. In the early 90s, he was offered an opportunity as a paid staff to run the food bank for a very short contract. He did such a phenomenal job, his contract was extended again, and again until he finally put his foot down and demanded a full-time permanent job. He went on to work at PWA for close to 30 years, first as the Programs Coordinator and later as one of our most beloved Caseworkers.

As the Programs Coordinator, Bill had an uncanny knack at procuring donations. He forged a pivotal relationship with TICOT (The Imperial Court of Toronto) which had formed in the same year as PWA: 1987. Through his enduring relationship with Empress Candace and her weekly bingos on Church St, Bill made sure the food bank shelves were stocked from the donations Candace would raise.  In one of his many stories, Bill talked about how one of the food bank’s refrigerators had broken down and he went right to Candace who raised the funds for a new one that same week. Bill also developed an enduring relationship with the beloved Chris Edwards who also raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Bill’s programs. Bill knew so many people who owned bars and establishments in the Village and quickly made them food bank supporters, Bar 501 being one of them.

But Bill had an uncanny knack at forging relationships beyond the Village – all to benefit people living with HIV/AIDS. He built a relationship with the Toronto-based bakery Dufflet and had a constant supply of their delicious cakes coming to PWA. He built a relationship with Canada’s Wonderland who would donate thousands of tickets every year. He developed relationships with the Canadian Naturopathic College as well as Sutherland Chan and Kikkawa massage colleges to offer free on-site naturopathic and massage care at PWA. As a caseworker, he stewarded PWA’s relationship with one of the local ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program) offices, ensuring that people living with HIV were treated with dignity and received responsive service at a time when it would take months to have your ODSP application processed.

Bill had unwavering passion and creativity to support our HIV community. Not satisfied with only running the food bank, he started PWA’s haircut program, the naturopathic and massage programs, the Holiday Bag program and what originally was called the “Good Samaritan” dinner, which later became Starry Nite, our annual holiday party. The Good Samaritan dinners were legendary – he enlisted friends and families across the city to cook hams and turkeys and served Dufflet cakes at a sit-down, multi-course dinner. Hundreds of people would come, eat until their heart’s content and be entertained by a full line up of Church Street’s best drag performers – the B Girls, Fontaine, Chris Edwards and Empress Candace. But it didn’t end there, Bill made sure everyone left with a gift bag full of donated gifts to end the night.

After many years as the Program Coordinator, Bill took on the role of Benefits and Assistance caseworker. He held this role for close to 20 years. During this time, Bill poured his passion into helping people living with HIV apply for ODSP, OW, Old Age Security, Employment Insurance and

CPP. He connected people to medical care, medications, dental care, optical care, lawyers, housing – you name it. Bill just didn’t support our community members, as a general way of being he always went above and beyond what was expected. And our community members loved and adored him for this reason. He was the person you turned to in a crisis, and he would always meet you with a calm, friendly and focused presence – always have the answer and always follow-through. He thoroughly understood the fears, challenges and vulnerabilities our community faced. And in his classic humble but fiercely devoted way, he did his best every day for everyone.

Bill Handley, for your relentless championing of people living with HIV/AIDS over decades, we honour your incredible legacy. Your love and passion for our HIV community inspires us everyday. Your legacy lives on forever.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, May 23^rd from 2-5pm at PWA 163 Queen St E, 1^st floor.