BCAP Reaches the Significant Milestone of Providing HIV Services for 35 years!

I’m honored to have worked as a volunteer and on staff with the Boulder County AIDS Project (BCAP) for the past three decades.

I began volunteering at BCAP in 1991, soon after losing my brother Matt to AIDS-related complications. As a “Resource Counselor,” I answered the phone and accompanied people living with HIV to shop in the food pantry. As a BCAP “Buddy” to Scott and Tony in their last few months, I sat by their beds and we held hands. We chatted about everything and nothing. We shared the silence.

It was common to see a lit memorial candle in BCAP’s front lobby through the 1990s. The waves of grief as our community lost one person after another to AIDS-related complications felt at times unbearable. We supported each other then, the way we do now when times are painful. We lean in to be present with each other, our hearts open and soft with compassion. In 1993, I joined BCAP staff, hired by my mentor, Robin Bohannan, and my role model, Tim Leifield. Later that decade, times became more hopeful as HIV treatment advanced. Today, I still regularly hear stories from staff describing how services improve health and save lives. A common thread from client stories is how critical it is for people to have equitable access to health insurance and medical care. Without access to HIV treatment, a person may as well still be living in the 1980’s or 90’s. “Joe” recently moved to Boulder from the southeastern U.S. to attend college. When he first called BCAP for help, he had no health insurance and had about one month's HIV medication left. Joe had no car and was unable to find employment due to COVID. He was hungry and had no money to buy food. He found an apartment and paid the first month's rent and deposit with his savings but had no way to pay the next month's rent. BCAP was able to connect him to Medicaid for healthcare coverage, and to Colorado’s State Drug Assistance Program for help with his medication copays. Joe's case manager Amy encouraged him to follow-up on her referral to Boulder Community Hospital's Beacon Center for Infectious Diseases where Joe was seen by an HIV medical specialist and set-up with on-going HIV treatment. BCAP helped with his rent while he applied and was approved for Unemployment Insurance Benefits. Amy delivered Joe’s first bags of nutritious groceries from the Jack Hodges Food Pantry. She says, "I just remember how his eyes lit up when he saw all the fruit, vegetables, meat, and pasta. He was so excited thinking about all the things he was going to cook and eat!"

Care Services staff work with clients to secure their health insurance coverage, medical care and treatment, housing, utilities, transportation, oral healthcare, and food. In 2020, almost half of the people living with HIV served by BCAP were living below the Federal Poverty Level; 79% were living below the Average Median Income. Prevention Services staff provide a continuum of prevention programming to raise HIV and hepatitis C awareness and reduce transmission. Staff provide counseling and testing, connect people to providers, teach risk reduction strategies, distribute harm reduction and basic needs supplies, and meet people where they are during street and on-line outreach. Due to the economic impacts of the pandemic, BCAP further relies on your support to keep the lights burning bright, pantry fridges and freezers running, the building’s rent paid, and much more. Your support allows BCAP to serve the people who ask us for help. As hard as the past 13 months have been, we are frequently reminded of the resiliency and compassion of our BCAP community. Thank you for being part of this community. I humbly ask for your generous gift to support BCAP’s essential HIV services and keep BCAP going strong. Your one-time gift or monthly donation will help BCAP raise the $35,000 needed to support the HIV services you count on us to provide! Together we strengthen our whole community by being here for our neighbors in need. In gratitude,