County Supervisor George Shirakawa Jr. doesn’t seem like the sort of guy to turn down a good steak, especially when it’s for a good cause. Shirakawa has invited the public to join him at Maceio Brazilian Steak House in downtown San Jose this evening, as part of the Dining Out for Life event to benefit local HIV/AIDS services.

Maceio is one of 50-some Silicon Valley restaurants that will be donating 25 to 100 percent of their Thursday night proceeds to the Health Trust’s HIV/AIDS services. The non-profit Health Trust is the largest HIV/AIDS service provider in Santa Clara County. Its programs include housing, nursing, chronic disease self-management classes, social work case management and food and prescription drug assistance for local HIV/AIDS patients.

“Our commitment to HIV/AIDS is an important one because the face of AIDS has changed,” Health Trust CEO Frederick J. Ferrer told San Jose State’s SHiFT Magazine last year.

Health Trust estimates that more than 2,000 people in San Jose are currently living with AIDS. Ferrer says there is a growing number of women and seniors being diagnosed with the immune deficiency disease.

“When it comes to AIDS, people are kind of like ‘Oh, haven’t we dealt with that? Aren’t we done?’ And we really aren’t,” Ferrer said. “One of our clients is an 84-year-old woman, and that’s not the face of AIDS people think of.”

Last year’s inaugural Dining Out for Life event raised more than $30,000 for the Health Trust. Other eateries participating in this year’s effort include Nick’s on Main and The Plumed Horse in Los Gatos, Paolo’s, Mezcal and Morocco’s in downtown San Jose, as well as Tarragon and Faultline Brewing Company in Sunnyvale. More information and a full list of participating locations can be found at http://www.healthtrust.org/diningoutforlife.