Project Report
| Aug 23, 2012
Medication or Food?
By Joy Winheim | Executive Director
Hunger and malnutrition are significant obstacles to the fight against HIV.
The connection between food and HIV treatment is not an obvious one, but for the people of our community, this connection is vital to both lives and livelihoods.
When high health care costs mean that a family can’t put food on the table, when malnutrition means an HIV patient has a greater risk of dying or when not having enough to eat means experiencing intolerable side effects from treatment, food and nutrition can make the difference between life and death.
Our clients make these choices everyday. Those choices make our food pantry an even greater tool in making sure they can meet their basic needs to fight the daily battle to live. When clients leave our facility with a bag full of food and a look of hope...it makes us fight to keep our pantry stocked.
Thank you to all of you that have donated to this project in an effort to help us reach our goals!
![Share on Twitter]()
![Share on Facebook]()
Jun 6, 2012
Charity or Justice?
By Joy Winheim | Executive Director
What do you think of when you hear the word charity? Do you think food - I didn't.... not until I began working with people who were truly hungry. Hunger has always been an annoyance to me... not a problem.
The Francis House food pantry began in 2007 with a 10,000 pound donation of food through the US postal Services Letter Carriers Food Drive. Very quickly - within two months - that donation was gone. Very quickly we learned that the need and demand outweighed the supply. The food we distribute became the main source of food and while we helped to reduce the hunger among our clients, we have not been able to eliminate it.
We have said before, more and more clients are depending on the food we provide as their main source of food. Our food pantry has near empty shelves and our hygiene items have been scarce. The donations coming in through GlobalGiving have given us hope that people do realize that not everyone has access to three meals a day.
As you think about where you want your hard earned money to go, know that every penny of these donations goes right to putting food on someone's table. Justice is being done.
"Hunger is not an issue of charity. It is an issue of justice." Jacques Diouf, Food and Agricultural Organization Director-general
![Share on Twitter]()
![Share on Facebook]()
Mar 21, 2012
Another one bites the dust
By Joy Winheim | Executive Director
Just like that. A group of people sitting in a room trying to figure out what programs to cut because of lack of funds. First on the chopping block - Food.
The drastic cut in area funding resulted in the largest Food program for the HIV/AIDS community here in Tampa Bay to close its doors on February 29, 2012. Food is not ranked as a high priority, but is essential for clients to maintain their health and stay adherent to their HIV medications, which in turn keeps them living longer.
Francis House's pantry was designed as a supplemental program for the clients that participate in services. It is now the only food pantry in the area that specifically serves our HIV/AIDS community. And we can't serve them without you. Our budget is $500 per month. Our distribution is amost $3,000 worth of food and hygiene products each month. Your Global Giving donations have helped us stretch this budget and continue to serve as many people as we can.
But, like all other small non-profits, we need more. I am asking you to buy a meal, to buy another day of a person able to take their medications. To invest in our community and the people that make our community what it is. To invest in a population that still faces the stigma of their disease every day.
I thank all of you that have donated to our project and have already invested in our people.
Links:
![Share on Twitter]()
![Share on Facebook]()
