Posted on Thu, Oct. 05, 2006

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$1 million to help churches fight AIDS

S.C. Legislature gives funds to 11 Midlands congregations, 13 others statewide in first prevention initiative

By CZERNE M. REID

czreid@thestate.com

Eleven churches in the Midlands and 13 others statewide are getting money to help fight HIV/AIDS.

The state Legislature allocated $1 million for the initiative — its first for HIV prevention. Led by the South Carolina HIV/AIDS Council, the effort is called “Project FAITH” for Fostering AIDS Initiatives That Heal.

“We want to empower churches,” said Bambi Gaddist, executive director of the HIV/AIDS Council.

The project targets churches with a high percentage of black members, or whose programs serve a large number of black residents. In South Carolina, black residents represent almost three-quarters of HIV cases.

“What we need is to be able to educate the public about this disease and about its spread,” said Rep. Joe Neal, D-Richland, instrumental in getting the money approved for Project FAITH.

“The faith community would be the perfect vehicle for that because they would carry the moral imperative to do that, as well as information about how this disease is spread.”

Reducing stigma is a big part of the project’s mission. Stigma contributes to the spread of HIV/AIDS because many who are at high risk of infection refuse to get tested, fearing scorn from friends and relatives, experts say.

Stigma also can rob people of their support system when they most need it, and that’s what the project is trying to change.

Two churches experienced with HIV/AIDS programs will get $25,000 each to help other churches and to expand their own efforts. The others, whose programs are newer, will get between $2,500 and $15,000 for such activities as classes, community forums, HIV testing and counseling. The awards were announced Saturday.

Graham Chapel AME Church in Charleston, which has had its HIV/AIDS care program for nearly a decade, will help other churches. Dolores Green started AIDS Care Teams at Graham and at Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist. Team members minister to persons with HIV through such activities as phone calls, home visits, doctor-visit escorts and shopping trips.

“People rely on the church for solace, for comfort,” said Green, a retired nurse who has worked in HIV/AIDS care for 18 years.“Jesus Christ reached out, and that’s what we need to do in the faith community — reach out.”

The HIV/AIDS Council has been helping churches reach out since the 1990s. In surveys the council conducted, many churchgoers said they felt uncomfortable about having their churches involved in HIV/AIDS-related activities.

Church members’ attitudes are particularly important among blacks, for whom the church traditionally has filled gaps in social services.

Negative attitudes can stunt the church’s efforts to address the AIDS epidemic and help those who are affected. Also, rather than face rejection, many people hide their HIV-positive status.

“It’s something that is so closeted, people don’t talk about it,” said John Pryor, an Illinois State University social psychologist who collaborates with the council. “People have this sense that they’re going to deny that the person sitting next to them is infected, yet it is very likely that they do know someone who is infected.”

Denial allows people to treat HIV/AIDS as “someone else’s problem,” he said.

Increasing awareness and empathy among church and community members goes a long way toward reducing HIV/AIDS-related stigma.

“If we want to increase the number of people who have those positive beliefs, then we have to create systems to promote this mind-set,” Gaddist said. “Project FAITH is about changing mind-sets.”

If the pilot project is successful, organizers hope to expand it to other churches across the state.

“If I were diagnosed today, I would probably seek out a church that has an AIDS ministry,” said the Rev. Andy Sidden, pastor of Garden of Grace church, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1990, and whose church received an award from Palmetto AIDS Life Support Services last year for its work in the field of HIV/AIDS.

“When a church has an AIDS ministry, that communicates acceptance and some sort of knowledge about the disease. And if I ever needed help, there would be a place where I could get the help ... a place where I would be comfortable ministering because I could help others with the same disease.”

Reach Reid at (803) 771-8378.

HIV PREVENTION

Eleven Midlands churches and 13 others statewide received Project FAITH money for HIV prevention programs.

Columbia: Brookland Baptist, Chisolm Outreach Ministries, Family Worship Center, First Nazareth Baptist, Friendship Baptist, Jones Memorial AME, Trinity Baptist, Victory Tabernacle, Wesley United Methodist

Cayce: Mount Zion Baptist

Camden: Cathedral of Praise

To find out more

For more information on Project FAITH: S.C. HIV/AIDS Council, go to http://www.schivaidscouncil.org/, or call (803) 254-1445. For more on the council’s anti-stigma campaign, visit Turn Your Heart Around at www.turnyour heartaround.org.