CONDOM CAMPAIGN STRETCHES AROUND CITY

Activists Promote Safe Sex, Methadone During Games

If Methadone Man approaches you when you stumble out of a bar on the
Granville strip during the Olympic Games, do not be afraid.

The Safe Games 2010 mascot wants to give you a condom.

The person portraying the mascot could very well be Orla Adams, an
administrative assistant with an NGO called Panos Canada and an
outreach volunteer with the Safe Games campaign.

Adams is one of many volunteers handing out kits throughout the city
containing condoms, lubricant, hand warmers and glow stick bracelets,
as well as information on how to celebrate safely during the Olympics.

"It's been quite easy," said Adams, who has had one shift so far. "I
handed out a lot of kits in no time at all."

Adams distributed the kits along Granville Street and near the
Vancouver Art Gallery.

"There were a lot of giggly folks," she said, adding that some people
were uncomfortable, some cracked jokes, and some were grateful. "I was
handing out a kit and a guy asked, 'Are these condoms extra, extra
large? Seriously, seriously'."

Most importantly, the campaign is getting people talking, Adams
said.

"We're making sure that people are doing things safely," she said.
"We're doing it in a fun way, riding on this wave of
celebration."

Adams, whose employer Panos Canada is part of a consortium of
organizations behind the campaign, has three more volunteer shifts
during the Games. She may dress up as a superhero for one of them, she
said, possibly as Safe Injection Girl.

The campaign has six superheroes; Captain Condom, Methadone Man,
Buprenorphine Babe, Epidemiology Guy, Bi-Curious, and the Caped and
Always-Protected Crusader.

Approximately 40 nonprofits and nongovernment organizations are part
of the consortium behind the campaign.

Another volunteer, Tori Talavera, works with Youth RISE (Resources,
Information. Support and Education for Reducing Drug-Related Harm),
which is involved in the campaign, and travelled from Los Angeles,
Calif. to help.

She is spending nights with her mother in Bellingham and adjusting to
Vancouver's weather. Last Saturday, she stood in the rain at LiveCity
Yaletown, handing out kits to people waiting in line for a concert.

"We looked like drowned puppies, passing out condoms," she said,
laughing. "At that point, you just have to have fun with it."

Safe Games was formed for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

"It was somewhat controversial with a few groups, being Salt Lake
City, but it was generally well received," said Gillian Maxwell,
project director for the 2010 campaign.

The goal was to make the kits fun as well as practical, by including
other items people might want to keep along with condoms and lubricant.

The campaign has a budget of $100,000, including $25,000 in in-kind
donations from the organizations involved and $75,000 from partners
such as the City of Vancouver, according to Maxwell, who is project
manager for the Keeping the Door Open Society in Vancouver.