Body Positive, the national support and advocacy service for people, mostly gay and bi men, living with HIV, is urging people to give generously to tomorrow's December 1st World AIDS Day street collections, a portion of which is used to assist financially stressed people living with HIV. (File photo) "The funds raised by the street collection have fallen over the past years with the Wellness Fund receiving $8000 in 2015 down from $12000 the year before," says Body Positive's Mark Fisher. "Luckily we held the LOVE party which boosted that amount available back up to $12000, which barely meets the demand. We would encourage people to contribute to the street collectors and show their support on December the 1st." Grants from the Wellness Fund provide people access to "urgent dental, medical or other services which they could not access through other means," Fisher says. "Recently the fund supported a person that had been discharged from an addiction centre and had nowhere to stay – emergency accommodation wasn’t available and we were able to fill the gap that would have had him living on the street until housing could be found. This has become a serious issue with the lack of housing in Auckland and the stigma around HIV, while it isn’t talked about it is still a reality that many people face." An example of how the Wellness Fund grants are used is available here.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 30th November 2016 - 12:38pm