AIDS Foundation Houston
Recognizing two decades of evolution
by Anne Salio

In 1981, a San Francisco man was the first person here who died from an AIDS-related illness, and a month later, Houston had its first official diagnosis of Kaposi’s Sarcoma, a rare form of cancer often associated with HIV/AIDS. In the following months, a group of citizens and medical professionals committed itself to helping and educating those affected by the disease, and in June 1982 they formed Texas’ first organization dedicated solely to HIV/AIDS education and services–the KS/AIDS Foundation of Houston. Now known as the AIDS Foundation Houston, the organization will have its 20th anniversary this June.

One of the reasons AFH exists today is because back in the early ’80s, it was tough to get funding for research, screening, treatment, and education for the population then considered the highest risk of becoming infected–those who were infected through homosexual sex. The organization’s first president was Michael Houston McAdory, a young man who was diagnosed with Kaposi’s Sarcoma in February 1982.

(Despite its name, AFH is not "by technical definitions" a foundation–as they admit in their first annual report–that is, it doesn’t disperse money to other charities.)

In those first years, AFH’s annual report boasted an increase in its professional staff–from three to 11. One of the new positions was that of volunteer coordinator, because back then, AFH had more volunteers than clients. Karla Dunn started volunteering when there were about 550 clients and 600 volunteers. According to Dunn, back in its early days, "You felt that if the foundation was to survive, it was up to you as a volunteer." Volunteering remains the heart and soul of AIDS Foundation Houston, although its staff has grown to more than 70. Last year the organization logged nearly 18,000 volunteer hours.

One of the most dramatic changes in its first two decades of operation is that back when Dunn first started, all of AFH’s clients were expected to die in a short period of time. The first person she was paired with died less than a year after they met–but in that time, he introduced her to the gay community by taking the then-50-year-old ex-nun to Mary’s and the Brazos River Bottom. Dunn had similar experiences with nine others, "They were wonderful people who let me into their lives and shared deeply with me." AFH’s clients live longer now, and Karla still keeps in touch with an HIV-positive client she met in 1989. New medication helps the clients live longer, but it is not an easy life to manage by any means.

Another change was the profile of those affected by HIV/AIDS. In the beginning, the majority of the clients were white, middle-class men, and gay. The organization recognized a need to provide temporary housing for indigent clients, not just middle-class gay men, and opened the AIDS Residence Center, renamed the "McAdory House" by the mayor of Houston, in honor of the AFH’s first president (who died two years after AFH was founded). Although McAdory House is no more, AFH now runs the Beecher Wilson Apartments, a 30-unit, independent-living complex and is currently working with Habitat for Humanity to build more housing.

In that same year, AFH opened Stone Soup, a food assistance program that Dunn fondly remembers originated out of a closet at McAdory House. Stone Soup outgrew its space and moved to its current location at 800 Westheimer in 1994 and last year served the equivalent of more than 300,000 meals each year.

As many high-profile individuals succumbed to the disease or made their diagnosis public over the years, HIV/AIDS became more accepted by the mainstream public, and that included donors. Perhaps ironically, the organization that was founded because it couldn’t get funding for a "gay" organization now finds itself able to raise many of its funds because it emphasizes that AIDS encompasses all ages, races, genders, and sexual orientations. Just last year, AFH had a fiscal budget of nearly $6 million, a far cry from the $16,233.72 it spent in 1983. The organization’s first annual report claims it was one of the "largest and most visible community-service organizations" with $29,816.25 in private donations and fundraisers. By contrast, more than 5,000 participated in AIDS Walk Houston 2002 raising more than $400,000 for AFH. AFH currently collaborates with more than 115 agencies in Houston.

With other programs like "A Friendly Haven" Women & Children’s Housing and Wellness Initiative, "Project Liferoad" a multi-agency housing and supportive services continuum, the Red Ribbon Toy Drive, Camp Hope and Camp H.U.G., and Positive Living Assistance for Youth, AFH enters its third decade of service having risen to the many challenges facing persons living with HIV/AIDS and with a track record of being able to evolve in order to serve the needs of its clients.