About Geared for Life

In the early 1990s, a group of friends formed “Geared for Life (GFL)” to take action by assisting Metro Detroit’s local HIV/AIDS service organizations. They accomplished this by raising significant funds to ensure their brothers and sisters living with HIV/AIDS received critical services they needed.

From the first event – “The GEAR Party” held at The Majestic Theatre in 1994 – through successful events held until 2005, this all-volunteer group raised hundreds of thousands of dollars that were provided as programming grants to Michigan-based HIV/AIDS groups.

The organization ceased operations in late 2005.

In 2013, original board members Tracy Hoffman and John Joanette re-committed to bringing together again an all-volunteer effort at the 20-year mark as a the Geared for Life Committee under Michigan AIDS Coalition.  

This committee planned and produced “Motorball 2014” and “Motorball 2015” at St. Andrew’s Hall/The Shelter, which once was the main venue for these events in the 1990s and 2000s. Net proceeds benefited the of the Michigan AIDS Coalition.

Upon the merger of Michigan AIDS Coalition programs with Matrix Human Services in 2015, World AIDS Day Detroit (WADD) received the rights to the Motorball name and produced events for several years. In 2017 those rights were returned to the Geared for Life founders, who re-established the organization in 2019 as a State of Michigan not-for-profit organization with a broad mission of community support:

Proceeds from our events and activities will benefit LGBTQ+ service organizations in Michigan.

OUR MISSION

“Geared for Life is a Detroit-based organization whose mission is to enhance the lives of LGBTQ+ citizens in the State of Michigan through education, awareness and special event activities.”

BOARD MEMBERS

John Joanette, President, Original Co-Founder

Alan Brown, Vice President

Tyler Ygelsias, Secretary

Michael Fotias, Member at Large

Jim Getzinger, Member at Large

Tim Price, Member at Large

Sean Ryan, Member at Large