Full Text of SR0437

SR0437 LRB104 15579 ECR 28745 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Lori F. Cannon of Chicago, who passed away on August 3, 2025; and

WHEREAS, Lori Cannon dedicated her life to serving the LGBTQ+ community and fighting against the HIV/AIDS epidemic; she became one of the earliest volunteers for Chicago House, the first local agency to provide housing for people with HIV/AIDS; she attended the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1987, where she encountered the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and became involved with the organization, helping launch the NAMES Project Chicago Chapter and bringing the AIDS Memorial Quilt to Chicago in 1988, 1990, and 1994; and

WHEREAS, Lori Cannon co-founded the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) Chicago, a grassroots protest group created to demand better care and treatment of HIV/AIDS patients, in 1988; that same year, she utilized her professional driving expertise as a founding board member for Open Hand Chicago, a meals-on-wheels program for people with HIV/AIDS, which later developed into the Groceryland pantry network; she also founded the Chicago-based Legacy Project, honoring LGBTQ+ contributions to world history and culture, in 2010; she further served the community as a volunteer with AIDS Legal Counsel of Chicago, STOP AIDS Chicago, Howard Brown Health, AIDS Walk Chicago, and the AIDS care unit at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center; and

WHEREAS, Lori Cannon's efforts to establish the Open Hand Meals-on-Wheels program and the GroceryLand network of food pantries for HIV/AIDS patients, which earned her an induction into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 1994, have resulted in the distribution and preparation of nearly 20,000,000 meals over the past 37 years; and

WHEREAS, Lori Cannon, better known as "Chicago's AIDS angel", was a natural caretaker who was unrelenting in her commitment to the well-being of others and driven in her fight for justice; her legacy of radical care and fearless action will live on in the community that she supported and loved so much; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of Lori F. Cannon and extend our sincere condolences to her family, friends, and all who knew and loved her; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Lori Cannon as an expression of our deepest sympathy.