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NC Now: HIV/AIDS Volunteers
Of the thousands of North Carolinians living with HIV and AIDS, many find themselves alone. Some have families who don't support them; others have partners who leave them. But volunteer organizations can help to foster new relationships and provide much-needed support. One of those groups is the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network in Charlotte.
Rev. Debbie Kidd: Holy God we light a candle because your word promises us that everything is made visible when exposed to the light.
As members of the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network, or RAIN, gather for a meal, one woman gives thanks for the blessings the group has brought to her life.
Anonymous: I was an addict, and I'm used to being around people who care about you for what you can give them, not what they can help you with. Nobody was ever willing to help me.
Until, she says, RAIN came along.
Anonymous: I was telling them that I had a two year old and I was going through some court changes, and I was real stressed out. I really needed some help, and they told me they'd send somebody out to talk to me. That's been two years ago.
Anonymous: Whenever I need them, like to take me to pick up my medicine, doctor's appointments. If I'm stressed out and I need some help with my baby, they'll come and get my baby if I need them.
Rev. Deborah Warren/RAIN President & CEO: We organize teams of volunteers from various congregations of all faiths and train them to offer compassionate care, support, friendship, and practical services to people living with AIDS.
Reverend Deborah Warren founded RAIN in 1992 because she says faith communities weren't doing enough to respond to HIV and AIDS.
Rev. Deborah Warren: There was not a predominant message of compassion coming forward from the faith community. Although almost every major denomination had issued a resolution saying that we ought to be compassionate and caring for those who have HIV or AIDS, it hadn't really trickled down to the local church at least where I could see it here in the Carolinas.
David Witt/Care Partner: Initially I knew of people who were told not to come back to church because they were infected initially, but I think that's one of the things RAIN has done is to provide education within the community in such a way of educating the community of faith to where there's not the fear and the phobias that used to exist around the disease.
David Witt has lived with HIV for 18 years and has been with his care team for eight of them.
David Witt: Their presence actually through the years has actually helped me to regain my faith and helped me to move back into a church where I'm comfortable and at the same time their presence has pretty much represented the presence of God in my life.
Susan Bullard says the same is true for her. She says volunteering with a care team for four years and developing a relationship with their HIV-positive partner, Gregory, has reinforced her own faith.
Susan Bullard: He uplifts our faith in other people, in the Lord; I don't see how you could do this work and not have a strong faith to call on for strength.
RAIN staff members say education is another central part of their mission. They say teaching congregations about HIV and AIDS is vital to get rid of stigmas and break down barriers.
Rev. Amy Brooks/Director of Education: We work to provide educational presentations to congregations in a variety of venues. We might do a Wednesday night supper program; we might do something with youth.
RAIN's Director of Education, Reverend Amy Brooks, says she believes RAIN has come a long way in erasing some of the stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS.
Rev. Amy Brooks: HIV is becoming more and more a topic that can be discussed, and people are open to having the conversation. They may not have a care team in their church. They may not be a volunteer who wants to do this work, but they are more aware of it and there is not the level of stigma that there once was.
Reverend Dr. Carl Arrington is spreading that message in African-American churches as well, as RAIN's Minority Program Director. He says churches are powerful places to educate people, especially in the south.
Rev. Dr. Carl Arrington: Churches have a lot of influence on the lives of people, shape attitudes and beliefs about all kinds of issues. HIV and AIDS of course is one of those issues. So the idea was that if you can get churches talking about this issue you can open doors so people can begin talking about it, becoming educated about it, helping present prevention information and also show the churches how they should respond to the issue of AIDS and those who are living with the disease.
Rev. Deborah Warren: If we can impact the attitudes of stigma and judgment that are so rampant here, if we can promote an attitude of compassion, then that's going to open up so many more avenues for people who are HIV positive - more services, more monies for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, then other leaders will take their cue from the faith communities.
Care team volunteer Florence Scott says she's become more educated and more compassionate working with her team's partners over the years.
Florence Scott/Care Team Volunteer: I've lived a pretty sheltered life, and that's what keeps me.. They're all different. They're all extremely different and they have all stretched me. I've had to get out of my comfort zone. I've had to stretch far more than I ever thought I would ever have to.
But she says the stretch is so worth it.
Florence Scott: Our last partner was the most wonderful woman. She was 67. She was the most wonderful person. She had no regrets in her life, none whatsoever, and she gave me more than anything. She just said live today. She loved the Lord, we prayed, we never left without praying or her singing. It's been wonderful.
Rev. Debbie Kidd Prays: With hearts so full we offer our thanks to you for all your blessings and for the great love in this room tonight.
Susan Bullard: I probably love it for all the wrong reasons. One of the things I heard was you will get more than you give, and I get so much from these people, which sounds kind of self-serving but it's not. It's the kind of gift that they give me. It's gifts of the heart, friendship, it's building a relationship with somebody that you probably never would have known.
Prayer Continues: And for the relationships we have formed, and for the blessings these relationships have been to us in all the seasons of our lives.
Anonymous: It really makes you feel good, like I said before, to know that somebody cares enough about you and don't even know you to help you. To be there for you when you need them, call and check on you from time to time, it makes you feel good to know that somebody cares. Somebody really cares.
Prayer: Amen
In 2004, RAIN received an international honor, a community peacebuilding award from the conflict resolution organization "Search for Common Ground." |
