Central Illinois Friends

Having a hard time seeing FRIENDS at the office? Check to see if we'll have testing available through our mobile unit at any one of our many events!

Our mobile unit can go anywhere we can and we can provide not only full slate HIV/STI testing but also pregnancy tests and vaccinations!

Wanna have our unit at your event? Just shoot us an email at [email protected]!

It's First Friday, and Blake and Leah are ready to go at our Bloomington-Normal clinic!

Our Bloomington and Galesburg clinics are open the 1st and 3rd Fridays of every month, call now to book an appointment!

Hey, does the guy in this article look familiar to anyone else? We can't quite figure out where we know him from.

Just kidding! 😉

Thanks to our friends at WMBD for naming Deric our CI Hero. The glowing words for our Executive Director and our entire team have definitely left us with a warm, fuzzy feeling here at the office! 😊

CI Hero: Peoria man honored for advocating, honoring Pride PEORIA, Ill (WMBD) — A Peoria-based social social service agency, Central Illinois Friends, works to help those living with HIV along with vulnerable community members to have access to suppo…

Peoria, you showed up for Sunday Funday!

We were so happy to wrap up Pride Month with friends, old and new!

Thank you to the amazing entertainers — your performances helped to make this evening magical!

See you in July for Peoria and Bloomington Pride festivals! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Sunday Funday is bumpin' already!

Central Illinois, if you're not here where you at!? 😝😝

Hey friends, just a quick reminder that our offices are closed today for National HIV Testing Day, BUT don't forget you can access our testing services at FOUR Walgreens locations across Peoria!

10613 N Knoxville Ave from 10 am - 6 pm

221 N Western Ave from 10 am - 7 pm

2515 N Knoxville Ave from 10 am - 7 pm

1200 E War Memorial Dr from 10 am - 6 pm

DM us on our socials with any questions about getting tested and follow us for updates!

It's Sunday Funday time, y'all! Get into it!!

We've got sickening drag performers, $2 well drinks to quench your thirst, yard games, and you can get into Diesel completely for F R E E! What more do you need?

Our Peoria clinic will be closed this Thursday, June 27th for National HIV Testing Day so that we can bring our testing directly to you, our community!

The Central Illinois FRIENDS team will be partnering with four Walgreens locations across the Peoria to offer extended walk-in test hours for HIV/STI testing. Our team will be stationed at the following locations:

10613 N Knoxville Ave, Peoria, IL 61615

221 N Western Ave, Peoria, IL 61604

2515 N Knoxville Ave, Peoria, IL 61604

1200 E War Memorial Dr, Peoria Heights, IL 61616

If you have any questions ahead of the event, feel free to get in contact with our team at (309) 671-2144 or reach out at [email protected]

It's weekend wrap-up time!! Central Illinois, you definitely kept us on our toes this week, and we couldn't be happier!

We started with off with our buddies at the BloNo Slavation army on Monday, and let us be the first to say it is always a pleasure!

We followed that up with fine folks of the Marshall County Mental Health Board in Lacon. We can't wait to be back!

Thank you to for the block party invite! We loved hanging with the folks of B'Nai B'rith. You all know how to party! 🥳

On Thursday, we got to spend all day with our long-time friends at for Summit of Hope.

Finally, we wrapped up our weekend 's and 's 3rd Juneteenth Festival and Peoria's first ever Juneteenth parade! We were honored to be a part of the parade and all the love we received from those in attendance! ❤️🖤💚💛

In Bloomington, we were joined by some amazing community members for the Miller Park Pride Parade, and in the evening, we got to enjoy the beautiful scenery of and all of the extremely talented performers brought together by .envy.ci! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Looking for something refreshing on a hot summer's day? Stop by any of our local .n.beans locations to get Berry Pride — 20% of all sales of this drink go back FRIENDS! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Happy announcement! Increasing access and changing lives with Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago and Heart of Illinois United Way.

Funding to expand LGBTQ health care services reaches Peoria Nurse practitioner has gained clients from Chicago who can now access care in Peoria.

FRIENDS is so grateful to be a part of this initiative with Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago to help bring our Illinois trans community the care they NEED and DESERVE! 👏👏👏

Who's ready for a weekend round-up!!

Congratulations to the organizers of on their largest event yet! We are so proud to be able to be a part of this journey, and what you are doing is so special! 💖💖

To our long-time partners at , we are delighted to celebrate another year of the Pride Family cook-out right here in Peoria!

Last but not least, thank you to
and all of our Bloomington besties for the warm welcome at this weekends Pride picnic!

Wanna find out where FRIENDS is next? Keep an eye on our socials because we'll be at events every day this week! 🏳️‍🌈

Can you guess where Becca and Deric are? 🤔🤔

If you guessed the new home of our affirmative counseling program, ACCESS — you're spot on!

Thanks to funding from Heart of Illinois United Way and Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago, FRIENDS will be able to provide FREE therapy for folks who've struggled accessing mental healthcare in the past.

Make sure to follow us and our partners at Whole Life Solutions, LLC to learn more about the program, including its official launch date!

Today, we celebrate HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day. It reminds us that HIV is no longer a death sentence. That those living with HIV can live long, healthy, and fulfilling lives.

As we continue our fight to end new HIV diagnoses, we will never forget those living with HIV now.

Now and forever, your FRIENDS. ❤️

Thank you to all of our community members who joined us for PrEPing for Pride weekend! We got to connect with folks in multiple communities across Central Illinois who showed us what Pride means to them. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Though the fight for acceptance and liberation is ongoing, our q***r community in Central Illinois stands strong and proud! 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️

🪭🪭🪭 yall!!! Attention. Attention! Who’s ready to WALK, WATCH, and WOLLER!!?? 👏🏾👏🏻👏🏿👏🏽

The Escandalo Mini-Ball is here!!! Come all y’all fabuloso folks!!!!

Happy Pride Month yall!! We have a BOAT load of events and good times coming up this summer so we KNOW you’re gonna need some good pick me up energy!

All month long go to any of Peoria Heights, Morton, or Pekin Leaves and Beans locations where they aren’t just celebrating with us they are helping raise funds for the new community center!

20% of their amazing energy drink sales come back to us and so much more!

Okay yall, the ball workshop was a HIT at George Washington Carver Association tonight!

We have some up and coming folks that are ready to WERK 🪭 tomorrow!

Are yall ready to werk? Think yall can win $250-$500 prizes to win your category?

See yall royalty at Escandalo Mini-Ball TOMORROW!

With Pride just around the corner, we wanted to highlight all of the stops we'll be making in the month of June! 🏳️‍🌈 ✨️

We can't wait to connect with all of our amazing community members. This all made possible through our partnership with our fellow community organizations — Illinois Art Station, JOLT Harm Reduction, NAACP PEORIA BRANCH, Oak Street Health, Peoria Proud, Positive Health Solutions, Prairie Pride Coalition, & Safe Space!

Let's spread the love this Pride season! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

We hope all of the Scampers we met have made it home safely after this amazing weekend!

Thank you for tabling with us this past weekend! We're so happy to know that some of the supplies we provided were put to good use so everyone could have a safe and enjoyable weekend!

Until next year !

They're a winner, baby — and you can be too!

Tickets are still available for the Escandalo Mini-ball through the link in our bio!

Not quite ready to hit the ballroom scene? No problem! Attend our free ballroom workshop on May 31st to get the 411 on ballroom culture.

What an amazing kick off for our PrEPIng for Pride!! Thank you to all the amazing lovely’s that stopped by today!!

Central Illinois, are you ready to paaarrrtttyyy!? 🥳🥳

Join our team at Club Diesel at 2pm for Sunday Funday!

PrEPing for Pride begins this weekend!!

We've got a whole host of Pride events with Positive Health Solutions, Peoria Proud, and JOLT Harm Reduction to take you all the way into Pride month, ending with our Escandalo Mini-Ball at 3300 Room!

Haven't gotten your tickets to the ball yet? No worries! You can still grab them through the link in our bio all the way up to the day of the event!

Make sure you're PrEP'd and ready for Pride season with an amazing line-up of events starting with Sunday Funday THIS Sunday.

Then join us on June 1st for Peoria's second annual mini-ball — Escandalo.

Not sure if you're ready to walk the ball?

Join Legendary Father and Mother duo AJ Ninja and Tracy Balmain for a FREE ballroom workshop!

Grab your tickets and reserve your spot for both events using the link below.

🎟🔗 Escandalo mini-ball: https://cifriends.harnessgiving.org/events/1712

🎟🔗 Ballroom Workshop: https://cifriends.harnessgiving.org/events/1741