Would you be an angel and give a generous tax time gift to the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation to help people with HIV pay for their medications or find emergency accommodation if they have nowhere to live?
I’d like to tell you about Simon*.
Simon came to the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation about a year ago, referred by the social worker he’d met in hospital. He was in shocking health. He’d just come out of hospital, where he'd been treated for hepatitis C, type 2 diabetes, depression and HIV.
And he was homeless. Things were pretty grim.
Please click here now to be an angel and give a generous tax time gift to the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation so we can help people like Simon who have HIV.
This is what a gift from an angel like you can do:
• Your gift of $1000 is enough to fund a special no-interest loan for essential household items like a fridge or washing machine. (No-interest loans are one of the few ways to help people on low incomes buy items they would otherwise have gone without.)
• $500 is enough for someone to take part in our life-changing Phoenix Workshop program and start rebuilding their life. (Many workshop participants have told me that they have resulted in profound improvements in their health, sense of well-being and quality of life.)
• $250 will pay for a week’s emergency accommodation for people like Simon whose health and circumstances has left them homeless. $250 is also enough to pay the course fees for someone who wants to enrol in a TAFE or Community College course. (For people who are thinking about studying and retraining, it’s incredibly reassuring for them to know we can help them out with this.)
• $100 can help pay for our caseworkers to visit people living with HIV in regional areas. (These visits are really important for people who can otherwise feel alone and socially isolated and who don’t have access to the well-established support networks that exist in inner-city Sydney.)
• $75 is enough to pay for a three people’s vital HIV medications for a month. (They’re the one thing you literally cannot live without if you’re living with HIV.).
• $50 can help pay for someone’s vitamins and supplements for 3 months. (For HIV positive people, these are often highly recommended to maintain their overall health and well-being.)
• $25 is enough to pay for a person’s vital HIV medications for a month.
It's a good time of year for you to make a donation – gifts are fully tax deductible and because it's the end of the tax year, you'll get your deduction quickly.
Click here now to be an angel and donate to our 2010 Winter Appeal.
To show you just how much difference you can make, let me tell you the rest of Simon's story.
Simon had lost huge amounts of weight in hospital, and his clothes just hung off him, so Terry, his Bobby Goldsmith Foundation case worker whisked him off to the lovely ladies at St Vincent de Paul who found him some great stuff that actually fitted.
Terry contacted Diabetes Australia NSW, who supplied Simon with a diabetes monitor so he could manage his diabetes.
With no income, Simon couldn't afford his medications. So BGF paid for his life-saving anti-retroviral medications.
We introduced him to the Luncheon Club, so he could get free meals two days a week.
But the top priority was finding Simon somewhere to live. The stress of being homeless had played havoc with his already fragile health.
Terry immediately put Simon's name down with for emergency housing. (Simon would never have known how to do this himself). Luckily, it took only a few weeks to get Simon into community housing. St Vincent de Paul supplied furniture and we helped out with household essentials.
Once he was housed, Simon's health improved.
We even got Simon some dental work. A friendly dentist supplies a couple of hours of free dental care a week to clients at BGF. (He's an angel in his own right.)
It takes all sorts of angels to turn around the life of someone who's hit rock bottom because of HIV.
Click here now to be an angel and donate to our 2010 Winter Appeal.
There's a good ending to Simon's story.
Simon was originally a tradesman, but there was no way he could do that any more. He was far too weak.
Centrelink put him on NewStart, but that required him to meet job search requirements.
Can you imagine? The poor guy could barely walk when he got out of hospital. Chasing up jobs was out of the question.
After about four months of us negotiating with Centrelink, Simon was finally given the Disability Support Pension, which is the appropriate benefit for someone living with HIV.
Simon would never have had the strength to negotiate all that on his own. It's hard enough when you're fit and well and know the system, let alone when you're weak and vulnerable from illness.
Once Simon was stabilised, he did one of our Phoenix Workshops.
Phoenix Workshops help people living with HIV feel more optimistic about the future, build confidence and initiate positive changes. They provide a platform to help participants learn new skills, plan a return to work or study, find alternatives to paid work or initiate an important life change.
Since Simon's career as a tradesman was no longer possible for him, a life change was needed.
Now, Simon is doing a basic computer course one day a week at a Community College. His goal is to support himself.
We first met Simon a year ago. He's pretty settled now, and managing well.
Sometimes it takes longer. One client, Matt*, has been with us for about 10 years – not intensively, but periodically.
HIV is like that – there are good periods and bad patches. Life has to be organised around them.
Matt's done a few courses trying to get back into the workforce. He'd managed to get work for short periods, but decided he needed to get a solid qualification so he could start up his own business.
Right now, he's doing his second semester of an IT course.
The benefits show up all over the place. The training and support has given him a lot more confidence. He's organising himself well. It won't be long before he will be able to take on some IT consulting work for a few small businesses.
Terry tells me that Matt's eyes positively glow at the prospect of becoming independent, working his own hours, when he can. There's little pride in being dependant and vulnerable, as we so often are when we are ill, let alone with a disease as stigmatised as HIV.
But when you donate to the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, you help people like Matt become self-sufficient. You help restore pride.
Click here now to be an angel and donate to our 2010 Winter Appeal.
Please give generously. The world needs more angels.
Warm regards
Bev Lange
Chief Executive Officer
* ‘Simon’ and ‘Matt’ are not our clients’ real names. We have to keep their identities confidential.