Dear Friend
AIDS Community Services is one of the largest and most comprehensive agencies of its kind in the nation and was the first in New York State to open an HIV specialty medical practice on site. Over the years, the Board realized that the organization needed to grow in order to meet the increasingly complex and diverse challenges facing individuals living with HIV/AIDS. In 1996 AIDS Community Services employed only 47 professionals serving 400 clients; today in the same office space, we employ over 120 dedicated individuals that currently serve over 1,500 men, women and children dealing with the consequences of HIV/AIDS in their daily lives. Our case load has doubled in just four years; and we provide one on one direct prevention, education and counseling to each person we care for. In addition, more than 10,000 individuals participate in our prevention and education programs annually.
Today, with revenues in excess of $6 million, AIDS Community Services is rapidly outgrowing its current rented space due to the increasing epidemic locally. A year-long strategic plan has been developed to explore a number of options for a new center. In early 2006, the decision was made to purchase the building we currently occupy at 206 South Elmwood Avenue, creating a centralized comprehensive care complex called the Evergreen Center. Our plans include retrofitting and rehabilitating the historic Roanoke Arms Hotel located on this site, plus constructing a brand new attached 28,000 square foot medical and service facility. Our goal in this project is to complete the service expansion with as little disruption and inconvenience to our clients as possible. The addition will house an expanded medical practice and the majority of our supportive services program. This center will enhance AIDS Community Services' abilities to broaden our base in prevention, care and research, which are the keys to ending this epidemic.
Our work is ongoing and our mission continues with the help of thousands of loyal friends and supporters, like you. We are proud of our success; but in the end, the reason we do what we do every hour of every day is the same reason this organization was founded, to end this epidemic and to make a life-changing, caring difference in the lives of those living with HIV/AIDS. This is our essence and our passion. We hope you will join us in our quest to construct the new and critical Evergreen Center. Help us Build on Our Promise: Help for Today... Hope for Tomorrow.
