LETTER FROM
THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Dear Friends,
It’s been 19 years since we began and, as of today, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has contributed more than $74 million (in hard cash) to AIDS and family service organizations, as well as to individuals throughout the country; an extraordinary legacy from our small and somewhat chaotic, hyper-emotional and determined beginnings.
But, as we continue to embrace those infected with, and affected by, HIV/AIDS, BC/EFA must expand its reach, particularly within the entertainment industry, through the social services provided by The Actors Fund to all of those who first made, and have continued to make, our essential support for people with AIDS possible.
Hence our expansion at The Actors Fund to include The Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative, The Al Hirshfeld Free Clinic and the Stage Managers Project, The Dancers’ Resource as well as the Broadway Flu Shot Initiative of Physician Volunteers for the Arts.
Meanwhile, AIDS is not over – it has simply taken on many different faces.
Your generosity has allowed us to support not only The AIDS Initiative of The Actors’ Fund but also community-based AIDS service organizations around the country from Oneonta, NY... Thomasville, GA ... Dallas, TX ... San Francisco, CA ...Tuscaloosa, AL ... St. Louis, MO ... Columbus, OH ... Shreveport, LA and scores of other communities large and small in 48 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico.
But I have to tell you... while I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished with your support; I have never seen so many social service organizations in such dire straits. Health clinics, food banks, housing programs, case management and emergency financial assistance programs are all facing severe funding shortfalls.
These financial challenges come at the same time that our nation’s health-care safety net is unraveling due to the willful negligence of the federal government and the corporate stranglehold on health services. It is unfathomable to me that our current political leaders are making it harder, not easier, for the men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS to get the help they need.
I’m angry that our government is turning its back on 49 million Americans living without health insurance. They are some of our most vulnerable citizens, including people with AIDS and their families.
I’m frustrated that the ongoing quagmire overseas (now looking to cost over $500 billion) has siphoned resources away from AIDS programs, food banks and the most basic social services. Meanwhile, pundits assure us we are in the middle of an economic “boom” simply because salaries and bonuses on Wall Street have never been higher.
I’m weary of leaders in Washington who pander with blanket statements that claim to value life, when their actions clearly show that they have little concern for individuals.
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It’s at times like these that I’m especially grateful for friends like you... people who do more than talk about the problems facing our nation... people who seize the moment, take action to make things better. On days when I feel discouraged, knowing that you and thousands of other people stand with us gives me tremendous hope.
The AIDS and family service organizations we serve are the ones trying to pick up the slack. They are seeing increased numbers of clients compete for ever-decreasing levels of funding. The real “on the ground” impacts are severe:
- The Resource Center of Dallas lost $118,000 in funding for its food pantry and had to lay off staff and reduce hours.
- Vermont Cares in Burlington, VT, has seen a 27% decline in its funding from federal, state and local governments since 2004.
- In post-Katrina New Orleans, the NO/AIDS Task Force has had to cut counseling and support groups and scale back its home-delivered meal program.
- Life Lines, a Brooklyn-based street outreach program targeting minority women has begun laying off staff and may have to close its doors completely!
For these reasons, and so many more, I am as determined as ever to ensure that the social service safety net which Broadway Cares has helped build across this great country remains strong through the last remnants of our current administration, and hangs firm on the hopes of the next.
Make no mistake—we are all facing the challenges of a health-care system that has become rotten at its core and frays more and more deeply beyond its edges.
So, when people ask, “Why are you still doing this?”, or, “Why so much?” a much simpler response exists than a litany of facts about HIV/AIDS:
We do this based simply on all of the above – but primarily because our own good fortune leaves us with much for which to be grateful.
I specifically wanted the above paragraphs to rest between these two rows of pictures. They represent all that we do. The excitement of our events, represented by the photos on the left – coupled, of course, to the support offered by so many individuals, major donors and corporate sponsors – allow us to provide the essential assistance represented by these few photos on the right.
One could not exist without the other. One would not exist if not for the other.
In a few images, lies the sum total of what we do; the how, and the why. |
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Thank you for being an active part of BC/EFA’s on-going fundraising efforts and an essential partner in its much depended upon grant-making mission.
Sincerely,
Tom Viola
Executive Director
P.S. Never has it been more important for individual voices to demand that representatives of political parties on the local, state and national level take real action. Our health-care, social service and educational systems are being willfully starved fiscally in order that a well-placed few can reap obscene profits through privatization. We must not let this stand.
To read past letters from our Executive Director, click below:
March, 2007
December, 2005
October, 2005
June, 2005
November, 2004
May, 2004
December, 2003
July, 2003
February, 2003
July, 2002
February, 2002
August, 2001
September, 2000
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