AIDS Outreach, a community based organization working in partnership with Lehigh Valley Hospital and AIDS Services Center, is recognized locally and beyond for creative problem solving and as a ministry of justice and compassion. It provides transportation, emergency financial assistance, pantry services, emotional support, advocacy, childcare and pastoral care services - myriad support - to people living with HIV/AIDS, their families and loved ones, people who would otherwise be unknown and whose needs would go unmet.
During 2001 AIDS Outreach received 112 new referrals and served 323 clients and their families.
From offices next door to Grace Episcopal Church in a building owned by the church, AIDS Outreach staff and volunteers strive to help persons living with HIV/AIDS to maintain human dignity in the midst of fear, anger, loss and alienation.
Staff and volunteers worked against the cultural grain when more than 90% of their clients were gay men. AIDS Outreach continues to work against the grain today when more than 90% of its clients are now the marginalized inner-city poor.
During the late 1980's, when AIDS ministry was respectable neither in church nor country club nor community, Linda Lobach Gallagher answered a call from God and set out on a journey.
She struggled to find a church that truly supported the call she heard in three consecutive dreams, "Come to my people with AIDS." At a country club dinner, she was told in a hushed tone that AIDS was not appropriate table conversation. In the community, some people turned away from her rather than touch the hand that touched persons with AIDS.
Encountering adversity in the form of stigma, fear, mistrust, and denial, she took her message to local churches, community service clubs, small group fund raisers and larger local grantors, wherever she might receive a hearing.
Linda and others worked for several years without compensation. They developed a buddy training program out of which came the first HIV/AIDS-related volunteer caregiver program in the Lehigh Valley. Hundreds of volunteers have taken the AIDS Outreach 32-hour training course.
AIDS Outreach made a major transition in the 90's when, suddenly, most of its clients were racial and ethnic minorities living in blighted housing and in the desperate world of addiction. They were economically disadvantaged, most below the poverty level, often uninsured. They were difficult to reach. Suddenly, persons with AIDS were also persons with children. Entire families needed help.
The new clients include young mothers whose families have broken down and who are fighting against incredible odds to live another year so their children can be one year older before they are orphaned. Their urgency often revolves around immediate needs such as food and shelter and making a living. For many, an HIV-positive diagnosis may rank fourth or fifth among the devils in their lives. AIDS might prevail next year -- but the devils they're fighting today include addiction, poverty, hunger, lack of education, incredibly devastating living conditions, unemployment and breakdown of spirit.
The changing face of AIDS brought its own urgencies that AIDS Outreach met through its development of innovative and creative services. The agency weathered the transition, continuing to be a crucial link between HIV-infected persons and the health community.
A Morning Call columnist pointed out that AIDS Outreach has provided for its clients "a point of connection in a society that in many cases has shut them out."
This year's operating budget for AIDS Outreach is about $150,000. A substantial portion of its income comes from contracts with the federal government, Lehigh County, and Lehigh Valley Hospital and from grants, foundations and the United Way's designated giving program. The agency has received grants from the Diocese of Bethlehem, the Reidler Foundation, the Pool Trust and the Faith In Action Program supported by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
In December 2001 AIDS Outreach's Christmas Angel Program served 61 clients and their families, a total of 189 persons. This was made possible by the donations of 39 individuals and groups who donated grocery store gift certificates and gifts valued at approximately $9,800 and represented some 370 volunteer hours.
AIDS Outreach also administers a food pantry, distinct from Grace Community Foundation's pantry, to provide emergency food and personal-care items to persons with HIV/AIDS and their families. Of all the social service agencies in Allentown, AIDS Outreach alone provides Goya-brand products for its Latino clients.
AIDS Outreach is incorporated as a community based organization. Linda Lobach Gallagher's charismatic presence continues to anchor AIDS Outreach in a profound spirituality. Monica Lewellis, who volunteered during the agency's very lean years, is client services coordinator for AIDS Outreach. Gloria Irizarry was recently hired as volunteer coordinator.
AIDS Outreach's working board meets monthly and includes five parishioners of Grace Church. Monica and Linda are also parishioners. Heidi Baer, a parishioner, serves as board president.
Linda Gallagher, director
Monica Lewellis, client services coordinator
Gloria Irizarry, volunteer coordinator
Telephone: 610-435-8424
Email: aidsout@rcn.com
