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A kindhearted, low-profile AIDS organization
celebrates its 10th anniversary by Katy Davidson
bout 10 years ago, Corey Baker
started an organization for people
who fall through the cracks. He
founded Friends of People with
A ID S, a low-profile group that
provides patients with services that are over­
looked hy larger organizations, services that
directly improve patients’ quality of life.
“[Corey] realized there were services for peo­
ple with AID S that no one covered,” says Bill
Space, the current board chairman.
Leaving the medical aspects of AID S to the
professionals, Friends of PWAs is merely a team
of volunteers that, for example, foots the bill
when a patient wants to see his father in
Ethiopia before he dies, helps clean out a
patient’s apartment before mom comes into
town, or pays the veterinary hill when a patient’s
pet is sick.
According to the organization’s treasurer,
Allen Brady, the group provides services on a
case-hy-case basis. In the past, Friends of PWAs
has also helped patients’ families with the cost of
cremation services, helped people set up apart­
ments, and bought Christmas gifts for clients
with kids.
“Sometimes the clients are kids,” Brady
notes.
“We try to avoid
being ‘Make a Wish’
for AIDS. We don’t
want to send people to
Disneyland,"
Space
says. “We want to help
with things people
take for granted.”
T he group runs
Tod’s Comer, a cloth­
ing and household
goods "store” housed
in the donated base­
ment space of the Fan­
tasy for Adults Only
video store on West Burnside Street in down­
town Portland. Tod’s Comer provides patients
with tangible donated goods, free of charge. For
example, the group gave away more than 80
winter coats last year.
Tod’s Comer is a crowded hut well-organized
collection of clothes, pots, pans, blankets and
teddy bears, among other household items. Jan
Rosell, the Friends of PWAs full-time volunteer
and client services person, operates the shop every
Thursday and Friday between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
W hen Tod’s Com er first opened, she says,
patients needed items such as wheelchairs and
disposable undergarments. Over the last 10
years, she has watched the face of A ID S change
and those needs decrease.
“Before, people were striving to live,” she says.
“We are now providing services for the living.”
Rosell says that every time a client leaves
Tod’s Comer, she gives him or her a hug coupon,
“gcxxJ for one hug, redeemable from any partici­
pating human being.”
According to Space, Friends of PWAs is able
to do so much with its funds because it has such
low overhead. The group does not have an
office and does not send out newsletters. People
with A ID S find out about the group via referrals
from larger organizations.
In fact, Baker points out that when he was
hoard chairman, 100 percent of every dollar went
to the patients. “I’m very proud of that,” he says.
These days, Friends of PWAs helps about
250 clients, and the group has still never spent
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more than $45,000 a year. Space says it was a big
step for the group to even get a phone line. “We
have such a cheap aesthetic." he adds.
Friends of PWAs does not receive any gov­
ernment aid, hut it used to get steady donations
from Fabric of Life and Cascade AIDS Project.
For various reasons, some of the organization’s
donation sources have begun to dry up.
“There’s been some compassion fatigue over
the last few years. People aren’t as open with
their wallets,” Brady says.
Space adds: “People think the needs have
gone away because people live longer.”
Though the group still gets some money
from individual patrons and other sources, it is
currently planning a fund-raising event to cele­
brate its 10th anniversary. Friends of PWAs will
host a garden party August 20. At the fund­
raiser, the group will stage a silent and an oral
auction, and also provide entertainment in the
form of belly-dancing and live music. Brady and
Space expect at least 250 people to attend.
“W e’re looking to raise the profile of the
group so people can help out,” Space says.
“W e’re looking for patrons who want to help in
specific ways."
■ For more information about the upcoming fund-
raiser, FRIENDS OF PEOPLE w i t h AIDS may he
reached at (503) 283-8535.
is a Just Out staff reporter.
She may he reached at katy@jicstout.com.
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