Food and Friends Needs Your Help

Under the "Ministries We Participate Wite" section on the front page of this blog, I have listed an organization titled "Food and Friends." This is a brief description from their website:

For people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-challenging illnesses, the battle is far from over. We just make sure no one has to face it on an empty stomach.

Along with nutrition counseling, Food & Friends prepares, packages and delivers meals and groceries to more than 1,400 people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-challenging illnesses throughout Washington, DC, 7 counties of Maryland and 7 counties and 6 independent cities in Virginia. Since 1988, Food & Friends has provided food and companionship to our clients, their loved ones and caregivers.

As a Pastor-In-Training at our church, Believers Covenant Fellowship, I head up our "Helping Hands" ministry which includes collecting food to donate to Food and Friends and also helping deliver meals one Saturday a month. I believe in what they are doing, find them to be a very efficient yet genuinely caring organization, both for their clients and volunteers--I've never been more appreciated in working for anyone than for the little I directly do for Food and Friends.

I'm sharing this with you because they need some help. More from the organization's website:

Food & Friends initially received a reduction in DC Ryan White funds, a budget shortfall of $484,000. Through vigorous efforts, Food & Friends has already been able to off-set a portion of the $484,000 loss. We succeeded in obtaining a $181,000 restoration of Ryan White funding from the District of Columbia Department of Health. The Council of the District of Columbia will augment our funding by $200,000, effective October 1, 2008 (the Food & Friends fiscal year, that of the District government and the Ryan White funding cycle do not coincide). Councilmember David Catania, Chairman, Committee on Health, is supportive of our work and understands the shortfall handed to us on short notice.

Through the careful management of our personnel-related expenditures, we anticipate saving approximately $85,000 by December 31. We also plan to reduce various administrative, and other non-salary, expenditures by $27,000. To this we will add reduced expenditures for client services totaling $223,000. It is this last category of expenditures that are the most troubling, though necessary.

Although the loss of funds from public sources is exclusively from the District of Columbia Ryan White funds, impacting HIV/AIDS, we think it only fair to spread the reduced service more broadly. Most charitable funds contributed to Food & Friends are for the benefit of all clients. The limitation of reduced spending, if applied only to persons living with HIV/AIDS in the District, would truly devastate the level of care we provide. This burden must be shared by HIV/AIDS clients and those living with other life-challenging illnesses so that we may sustain our core commitment to the battle against HIV/AIDS while we continue to provide for persons with other illnesses on an equal basis.

How can you help, even if you don't live in the Washington, DC area? Here is their suggestion:

With rising fuel prices, this funding shortfall hits Food & Friends particularly hard. Our delivery vehicles drive more than 1,300 miles each day (that's more than 32,000 miles each month!), and you can help ease the burden by volunteering to deliver meals.

You can also help to offset our budget shortfall by making a tax-deductible gift to Food & Friends -- every dollar helps! To make a recurring gift, contact Alicia Toles to join Food & Friends' Bread & Butter club.

I have been truly blessed by reaching out to people who need it, both by collecting food and delivering it. I'm going to try and mobilize support within my church, but I'm also asking you to consider helping out in any way you can.

Rising expenses are hurting more people than not these days, and I realize you are probably receiving more appeals like this than you really care to. If you have received any blessing or encouragement from the work of this blog, however, supporting Food and Friends would be a good way to show your appreciation.

Thanks in advance for your thoughtful and prayerful consideration.