I sat in amazement, and sadness, as I listened to one of Pride Foundation’s grantees from Butte, Montana describe to me how people with HIV in his town had to drive 5-6 hours to see a doctor who knows anything about their disease. He talked about how he had a serious infection, in winter, and had to traverse his state in whiteout conditions, because the one doctor who used to see people with HIV/AIDS in Butte had to close up shop. There just wasn’t the funding to keep his practice going. I thought about how much I hate to trek up to the grocery story for chicken noodle soup when I have a cold, and here this guy had to drive for hours and hours.
It made me wonder- is the same thing happening here in Washington State? We have certainly heard from HIV/AIDS providers in this state talk about the decrease in funds and how that is affecting their clients. They turn to Pride Foundation to fund the “non-essentials”, like cleaning supplies, extra protein, and heating assistance. I don’t really see how these things are non-essential, they feel pretty critical to me. We do what we can to fund these organizations, but continued government funding is crucial to meeting the needs of people with HIV/AIDS.
The second half of our friend in Butte’s story gave me some hope. He talked about how when he got to Missoula there were people there to greet him, people he had never met before. Turns out a friend in Butte called a friend in Missoula. A network was quickly formed and, even hundreds of miles from home, support was there. The story reminded me of the power of people, people who are compassionate and committed, who don’t let the odds get in the way of what needs to be done.
That is why AIDS Awareness and Action Day is so powerful. We hear all the bad news coming out of Olympia, the budget cuts and the people who will be left without support. But we can’t let this stop us from speaking up and making it clear that people with HIV/AIDS need continued support. We need to do it for the people all over our State, because when they show up in need, someone has to be there to greet them.
About Zan
Zan McColloch-Lussier is the Director of Communications for Pride Foundation, a community foundation dedicated to supporting the Northwest’s LGBTQ community. Find out about our funding at PrideFoundation.org.
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