Helping Hands Report – January 11, 2006

As we enter 2006, we are ever mindful of those among who live with HIV/AIDS and those who most at risk for infection. Recent reports indicate that nearly 5500 people are living with HIV in Northern Virginia with nearly 30,00 infected statewide. One-fourth of those infected may be still unaware of their infection as the disease decimates their immune system. Northern Virginia is being hit especially hard with threats of agencies that may close due to losses in funding. A current study we are leading causes us to expect that as many as three agencies are fearing closure leaving fewer and fewer people to do the work of prevention and offer services to a what is increasingly a very marginalized population.

NOVAM will have a very busy year. We expect to reach 25,000 youth with a lifesaving message that will save them from disease and death. We will provide more than 16,000 rides to get people to vital medical appointments. We will offer children services to 200 HIV-affected families to keep the families united and allow the children to experience as much "normalcy" as possible in their homes. Every year the numbers of people serve grows. Unfortunately the resources to provide that care are not growing.

Federally, funding for services for people living with HIV has been flat for the last six or seven years. With 40,000 new infections every year, that means less services for everyone. Northern Virginia experienced closed doors for those who needed medical care for the first time due to those shortages. As a result, NOVAM will continue playing a key role in addressing the systemic changes that are needed to ensure care for all. We are the lead agency for a study to look at the entire region’s system of care to determine areas where changes could be made and to create an advocacy plan for those who need our help. We continue to serve as a launching organization for the Virginia Organizations responding to AIDS which advocates for people living with HIV in Richmond.

Our calendar for the year will include leadership roles in the National Latino AIDS Awareness Day, the Black Church Week of Prayer, National Black HIV Testing Day, and other events to bring awareness of the risk of infection to those most at risk in our community for infection. On April 29, we will once again host Imagine 2006,the largest fundraiser for HIV in Northern Virginia with over 800 people in attendance. Our children will be going to camps all over the region this summer and next fall and winter, many of our families will receive Thanksgiving dinners and 175 children will receive holiday presents purchased especially for them by volunteers like you. December 1, we will once again sponsor the Northern Virginia World AIDS Day Interfaith Service which was held at Our Lady Queen of Peace in 2005.

When Northern Virginia AIDS Ministry was founded in 1987, it was clergy and lay people who said we need an interfaith response to this epidemic and since then faith communities across the region have been generous with their financial support and in channeling volunteers to us to help us succeed in bringing hope to those who live with the disease. We are grateful for that partnership we have with all of you.