Hillcrest AIDS centre gets creative to keep doors open
The Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust says the growing need to be self-sustaining is behind their latest initiative to help keep their doors open.
" The reality is since COVID, 15 hospices have closed down. With the extreme cuts now to global HIV and AIDS funding, the necessity to keep our services open and available, particularly with the local contextualised response, is really essential,” says HACT's CEO, Candace Moolman.
Moolman says they opened a thrift shop, iThemba's Closet, at their headquarters on Old Main Road on World Aids Day in December.
They held their fourth sale day on Friday.
The trust has worked in the response to HIV, particularly in eThekwini West, for the last 35 years.
The US's latest aid cuts, particularly in the form of the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, have led to significant reductions in both program funding and personnel support at the trust.
Moolman says the organisation was in the process of securing a new PEPFAR-related grant, which will no longer be available.
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She says it threatens efforts to expand vital HIV prevention, AIDS care, and adherence support for youth living with HIV.
The shop's proceeds will support the organisation’s hospice and palliative care and several other programmes.
" That's a 24-bed inpatient unit where patients receive 24-hour nursing care for late-stage aids in cancer. That has really been put at risk. And so iThemba's Closet, offering unconditional love and hope, is our mission. And so the hopes Closet is really trying to keep our doors open for those most vulnerable."
HACT is inviting the community to join them at the campus for a late shopping until 7 pm.
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