A Sweet Affair With Purpose: Terry Summers’ Vision for the second annual POZabilities event/fundraiser

By Cesar A Reyes

Terry Summers brings a lifetime of community building to A Sweet Affair. He’s the first to say the event isn’t about his résumé, but about what happens when people show up for each other.

Before calling San Diego home more than 23 years ago, Terry spent years working on the front lines of LGBTQ+ advocacy in Wyoming and Colorado. His early work ranged from campus organizing at the University of Wyoming to leadership roles with statewide LGBTQ+ and HIV-focused organizations. Along the way, he learned how to build programs from the ground up, grow community support, and keep people connected, especially in places where being visible wasn’t always safe.

Those skills followed him into nonprofit leadership, where he helped grow community centers, expand programming, and create welcoming spaces rooted in dignity and care. The work was intense, deeply personal, and shaped by moments of profound loss and resilience within the LGBTQ+ community. “It taught me how important it is to create spaces where people feel seen and supported,” Terry says. “Because community can literally save lives.”

When Terry eventually made his way to San Diego, he found beauty, but he also found himself missing that sense of purpose. That’s when POZabilities came back into his life. Having been connected to the organization for nearly two decades, Terry knew firsthand what it offered: activities, services, and a sense of belonging.

“POZabilities truly saved me,” he says. “The friendships, the support, the sense of family—I don’t know where I’d be without it.”

That lived experience is what inspired A Sweet Affair.

When AIDS Walk funding ended, POZabilities needed a new way to sustain its mission of reducing isolation, stigma, and depression among people living with HIV. Terry proposed something different—an evening that felt joyful instead of heavy, elegant but welcoming, and rooted in community rather than obligation. The board said yes.

The first A Sweet Affair exceeded every expectation, raising more than $9,000 in its debut year. But just as meaningful was the feeling in the room: laughter, conversation, people lingering instead of leaving early. “Seeing what it became—that was the reward,” Terry says.

Now in its second year, A Sweet Affair is bigger, bolder, and deeply intentional. More desserts, more auction items, more attendees, and more impact. Every ticket sold and every bid placed helps POZabilities continue offering the everyday moments that mean everything to its members: weekly coffee, shared meals, trips, celebrations, and the reassurance that no one has to go through life alone.

For Terry, that’s the heart of the event. A Sweet Affair isn’t just a fundraiser, but an extension of the community that once lifted him up, and now lifts thousands of others across San Diego.