dougs digs

once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right

4.12.2005

KC AIDS WALK 2005


As some of you may know already, this has been an especially rough (to say the least) year for HIV / AIDS services in Kansas City. The local AIDS Service Organizations (A.S.O.'s) that provide services, education, and hope for thousands of individuals, children, and families living with HIV/AIDS in the Kansas City area have been forced to close their doors, lay off staff, and / or eliminate direct client services.

These catastrophic occurrences are a direct result of the reduction or elimination of funding from our local, state, and federal governments, which were the primary funding sources for the A.S.O.'s. Obviously the sick and poor are not a priority for our country. As a result, thousands of individuals are without adequate care and several of my colleagues are now unemployed (I barely avoided the guillotine).

This trend has been slowly coming upon us in Kansas City, as well as many other cities across the country for the last four years (any correlation between these occurrences and the political "culture" over the past four years?). Worse part is, infection rates in K.C. are rapidly increasing, while the awareness is rapidly decreasing. Not a successful combination.

With that bit of tragic news, you might say, "gosh Doug, what can I do". Well nice person I have a few suggestions :

1. give a damn
2. sponsor me and ‘TEAM GSP’ (Good Samaritan Project, my organization) in raising funding and awareness for Kansas City AIDS Walk 2005
3. see #1
4. have others sponsor you as you either walk with me and the rest of ‘Team GSP’ or create your own group to walk with
5. see #1

If you are concerned and want to make a difference, please go to the K.C. AIDS WALK website and sign up to walk with 'TEAM GSP’ or create your own team. Anything helps out those individuals, families, and children living with this disease, especially in a time where our social and political climate is doing increasingly less about this epidemic. Here is some additional information, hope to see you Saturday :

As an AIDS fundraising organization we find ourselves in a challenging period. Our local AIDS organizations remain in need of financial support more than ever. Recent cuts in AIDS funding by Kansas City and Jackson County governments have dramatically affected the agencies' budgets. These unwelcome cuts come at a time when ever-increasing demands for services are on the rise and HIV infections among our youth and minorities continue to grow at alarming rates. Today there are more than 4,500 people living with HIV/AIDS in the Kansas City area and of that number more than 700 are young people between the ages of 12 and 24.

The Mission of the AIDS Service Foundation of Greater Kansas City is to assist in funding organizations which provide food, shelter, medical care, and other services to the diverse communities dealing with HIV/AIDS, and to promote public education about HIV infections.

In 1992 leaders from the four primary AIDS service organizations in Kansas City, Good Samaritan Project, SAVE, Inc., HARCMart and the Kansas City Free Health Clinic met to discuss a cooperative effort at fundraising in the community. Recognizing that there was much duplication of effort in the fundraising area due to appealing for funds from the same donor population, the organizations' separate efforts are losing effectiveness.

With vision these leaders put aside organizational agendas and formed the AIDS Service Foundation of Greater Kansas City. Each founding organization pledged and paid $5,000 to initially fund the foundation. Each organization placed two representatives on the board to serve with a diverse cross section of additional individuals from the Kansas City Community.

The AIDS SERVICE Foundation's charge is to be a primary leader to raise funds to fight the AIDS epidemic in Kansas City and to distribute said funds to the four primary AIDS service organizations and, through the Community Fund, to agencies meeting proposal criteria. When you are raising money and awareness for AIDS WALK Kansas City you are helping many organizations in our hometown that would not have otherwise received additional funding for their HIV/AIDS programming. The Foundation raises money for the Community Fund through the World AIDS Day Dinner and AIDS WALK.

|| doug, 13:40

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