Merrick woman aims to raise $70G for 2022 AIDS Walk New York

Dedication, persistence and determination.

That’s what it has propelled a Merrick woman to become the top fundraiser for GMHC’s AIDS Walk New York for the past three years and the second-highest fundraiser in the organization’s history.

In her 34 years of participating in AIDS Walk New York, the world’s largest single-day HIV and AIDS fundraiser, Francine Goldstein has raised $827,000. Only Rita Fischer, who raised more than $1 million and died last year, has bested her.

“I always told her, ‘Rita, you’re an inspiration to me,’ ” said Goldstein, 76. “And she was always proud of what I did.”

Working toward this year’s $70,000 goal, Goldstein will be walking once again in Central Park on May 15 at the 40th annual event, decked out in a commemorative T-shirt and her distinctive bejeweled golden tiara.

Calling Goldstein “a stalwart of AIDS Walk New York’s entire history,” Emily Parson, GMHC’s managing director of sponsorships and special events said, “She works AIDS Walk like it’s her full-time job. It inspires all of us how dedicated she has continued to be.”

The GMHC’s largest fundraising event, which attracts about 10,000 participants each year, returns this year for the first time since the pandemic.

'Like a sister'

A self-described “child of the ’60s,” Goldstein — whose causes over the years have included Long Island Cares, Human Rights Campaign, and Doctors Without Borders — has been a member of GMHC, also known as Gay Men’s Health Crisis, from its inception in 1982. The Goldsteins, who have no children of their own, have sponsored children around the world for the past 20 years through Children’s International and Save the Children. Currently, they’re sponsoring six children from Appalachia, Ecuador, Honduras, Malawi, Mozambique and Uganda.

“When we heard about the first AIDS cases in 1981-82, my husband and I became members right away,” Goldstein recalled. “Little did we know that we’d be utilizing their services.”

Working as a paralegal for New York City’s Conciliation and Appeals Board, which handles rent-stabilization matters, Goldstein met B.Q. in 1979 and the two quickly became the best of friends.

“She was like a sister,” said Goldstein, who preferred to use only her friend’s initials to protect her family’s privacy.

Pregnant with her daughter, B.Q. contracted pneumonia, gave birth prematurely and was diagnosed with AIDS in 1988.

“She called me up and said, ‘Francine, I have AIDS and, I’ll understand if you never want to see me again.’ And, I said, ‘I’m your best friend. I’ll never abandon you. I’ll do whatever I can to help you.’ ”

Though it was unclear how B.Q. contracted HIV, Goldstein said that before marrying, her friend had dated two men, one who had had open heart surgery; the other, a blood transfusion. Both her husband and daughter were HIV negative.

In the late 1980s there were no support services for HIV or AIDS near her friend’s Staten Island home, Goldstein noted. Her doctors prescribed a regimen of AZT, a drug used to slow the progress of the disease, that at $8,000 a month, was unaffordable.

“I reached out to GMHC. I told them my friend’s story, and we got her a discount drug card. And it reduced the cost considerably,” Goldstein said, noting that the price went down to $1,200 per month.

With a young baby to care for, B.Q. also needed legal and medical services, and people from GMHC often visited her at her home, helped her write letters when she was too weak to do so and assisted with chores. She died in 1991, when she was 36, 2½ years after her diagnosis.

“It was so important that GMHC was there,” Goldstein said.

Each year, Goldstein walks to raise money in honor of her beloved friend.

“I’m extremely proud of her,” said her husband, Lenny Goldstein, of his wife’s commitment to her friend’s memory. “This was a tribute to her friend, and she has not let up. If anything, she has gotten only more determined over all of these years.”

A fundraising dynamo

For her very first AIDS Walk in 1988, Goldstein was sponsored by her husband and two dogs, raising $150.

Before long Goldstein realized she could use skills honed during her many years working in the finance and collections department of Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield to raise considerably higher sums.

“Being in finance and collections, I said to myself, ‘I ask for money all the time. Let’s get moving on this,’ ” she recalled.

Goldstein started asking for donations from co-workers, family, neighbors and friends. And she set higher and higher goals for herself, now garnering about 400 contributions each year, including from friends at Macy’s at Roosevelt Field mall who reliably contribute to her AIDS Walk team, Goldstein said.

From January until the event itself, fundraising becomes a full-time job for Francine, said Lenny, 74, a retired science teacher.

“She constantly keeps lists of people she’s contacted, [and] has to contact, and she really spends sometimes the better part of the day doing this,” Lenny said.

Over the years, his wife has collected the phone numbers and emails of nearly everyone she meets and encourages people to pass along her fundraising missives to everyone they know, Lenny said.

“Francine has the best memory around, and Francine never forgets the people who have donated to her and the people that she needs to contact,” Lenny said. “And everybody that has donated to her once knows that there is no getting away from her — and most of them don’t even try.”

Money raised by AIDS Walk New York goes toward services for thousands of people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS, said Krishna Stone, GMHC’s director of community relations. “Some of those services include mental health and substance abuse counseling,” she explained.

The organization also provides groceries, legal services, housing help, workforce development, HIV testing and HIV prevention programming.

“We advocate for fair and effective public policies at local, state and federal levels,” Stone said, adding that though it was founded to address the HIV and AIDS crisis impacting gay men, GMHC provides services to people of all ages and sexual and gender identities.

“GMHC is immensely grateful for Francine’s continuing brave and beautiful fundraising for AIDS Walk New York,” Stone said. “We love her and appreciate all that she continues to do to support AIDS Walk New York benefiting GMHC.”

Over the years, Goldstein has extended her abiding love and dedication to GMHC staff and their families, noted Parson.

“We’ve known each other for many years,” Parson said. “She has become like an ‘AIDS Walk aunt’ to me. It’s just lovely that she keeps it up, no matter the pandemic, the housing recession or what have you. Nothing can stop this woman.”

Accolades, achievements

Over the years, Goldstein has been recognized for her charitable efforts.

In May 2017, she was overwhelmed to learn that State Sen. John Brooks (D-Seaford) nominated her for the New York State Senate Liberty Medal Award.

“That was such an amazing surprise,” Goldstein said. “Because he called me up one day and said, ‘Francine, I nominated you for this award and it just got approved!’ ”

In 2015, then-New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson awarded her a plaque for her fundraising. The following year, as Goldstein reached $500,000 in fundraising, she went up to the podium as GMHC announced the milestone during the AIDS Walk opening ceremonies; she also received a Humanitarian Award from the Nassau County Legislature.

Because of COVID-19, the AIDS Walk was canceled in 2020 and 2021, but the fundraising continued.

“I was determined as ever,” Goldstein said. “And it was also good because of the pandemic, that it kept me focused on what my goal was going to be.”

Now, her friends enlist their friends to donate to the cause, including Crystal Berger, who met Goldstein a few years ago through shared political activism.

Berger, who works in local government, explained that her father, who had addiction issues and had shared needles, died of AIDS in 1992, when he was 39 and she was just 6.

“I have to give almost all of the credit to Francine,” said Berger, 36, of Elmont. “She does a tremendous job of fundraising. Whatever I can come in and do, is just a little bit extra.”

Berger and Goldstein have friends and acquaintances in common.

“What I do is let people know that not only are they supporting one friend: they’re supporting two,” Berger said, explaining that any donations she gets support Goldstein’s team.

Becoming involved in Goldstein’s fundraising efforts has encouraged Berger to share her story.

“I want people to understand that this is something that affects real everyday people that you may know. It’s not just a gay men’s disease. It’s not just a disease of addiction,” Berger said.

For her part, after clocking in countless hours for nearly three-and-a-half decades to raise money, Goldstein’s enthusiasm has only grown stronger.

“GMHC still provides vital services to HIV-infected people and their families: legal, mental health, food deliveries and housing. Long-term survivors who have been on medication for many years suffer greatly from the side effects and need special support,” Goldstein said. “I have met many of these people over the years. They keep me going.”

She’s already looking ahead to her next goal: hitting the $1 million mark, a target that seemed such a pipe dream years ago, that she joked to friends that by the time she might reach it, she’d be in assisted living.

To which they replied, she recalled, “Look at all the new people who will sponsor you!”