A non-profit society long known for helping men and women living with chronic diseases such as cancer, HIV and AIDs, is suspending operations March 31 for an indefinite period of time.
Friends for Life, and its dedicated army of volunteers, offers more than 60 programs for clients that include complementary and alternative health services designed to promote healing and keep clients in their homes. The society also offers counselling, cooking lessons, massage, wellness programs and home support for end of life. Often these volunteers offer the only human contact clients have, so many consider the work done by the society as literally priceless.
But less than one week after its biggest fundraising initiative of the year, word is the society will soon suspend operations. Whether that will be a temporary or permanent move has yet to be announced.
In response to a phone call from the Courier Wednesday morning, an employee confirmed the suspension, but deferred any comment to interim president Paul Gravett. The Courier emailed Gravett who had not yet returned the message by the time this story was posted online.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the huge fundraising initiative Dining Out for Life told the Courier proceeds from its March 10 event were just being tallied Wednesday morning and will still be split between A Loving Spoonful and Friends for Life. The Friends for Life portion will be held in a restricted account until the future of the society is known. If the society is not re-established, those funds will be transferred to A Loving Spoonful, a non–profit society that since 1991 has been providing free, nutritious meals to men, women and children from Greater Vancouver living with or affected by HIV or AIDS. The organization provides more than 110,000 free meals a year.
Dining Out for Life sees restaurants from Whistler to White Rock and across the Lower Mainland contribute 25 per cent of food sales one day a year in support of both societies. In 2015, 3,057 restaurants in 53 cities raised $4.2 million towards the cause.
As reported previously in the Courier, while our provincial health care system pays for the heavy-duty drugs keeping people living with HIV or AIDS alive, these clients often have little money left over at the end of the month to purchase medications needed to control the devastating side effects, such as nausea and diarrhea. Purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables is also a luxury denied to many living with a chronic illness.
@sthomas10
