Community Story
Michael Hartzog 1957-2009
Michael was one of the first Housing Works clients to take up residence at our award-winning Keith D. Cylar House congregate living residence in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood. Although he eventually lived independently, he remained an important presence at Cylar House, where residents and staff remember him as easygoing, helpful, and hardworking. When he wasn’t engaging in AIDS advocacy—Michael regularly attended Housing Works rallies and demonstrations—he loved to discuss his beloved New York Yankees. “He talked nothing but,” remembers Cylar office manager Kaisar Merhai. “We will miss him dearly.”
Make a difference
For a 24-hour period beginning on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2009, activists, volunteers and those living with HIV and AIDS, will read names continually at City Hall Park in lower Manhattan to memorialize friends, family, and loved ones, and to raise awareness about the twin crises of HIV/AIDS and homelessness.
