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Long Beach Food Pantry in Danger of Closing
AIDS Project Los Angeles today denounced an unusual maneuver to completely defund food pantry programs and treatment education services for low-income people living with HIV/AIDS in Los Angeles County. With virtually no public comment, the Priorities and Planning Committee of the Los Angeles County Commission on HIV recommended that funding be eliminated for nutrition support (including food pantry services) during its May 26 meeting.
The recommendations, which will next go before the Los Angeles County Commission on HIV Services during its July 9 meeting, would shutter free food and treatment education programs countywide. This includes The AIDS Project Los Angeles Necessities of Life Program at C.A.R.E. Program and Clinics at St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach. The committee cited the availability of other community resources in its recommendation.
“This decision defies all logic,” said Craig E. Thompson, APLA’s executive director. “At a time when food pantries nationwide are reeling from record food costs, skyrocketing demand and plummeting supply, the notion that there are other resources where low-income people living with HIV/AIDS can get life-sustaining, nutritious food is a complete fiction.” APLA operates a countywide network of nine food pantries that provide fresh produce, meats, dairy and more to over 2,400 HIV-positive people.
“The recession has pushed demand at our pantries up by nearly 20 percent just in the past year,” Thompson continued. “To eliminate this funding now isn’t just reckless – it’s cruel.”
The committee also recommended eliminating funding for treatment education programs, indicating that people living with HIV/AIDS receive adequate treatment guidance from their medical providers.
If approved by the full commission, the cuts will go into effect March 1, 2010. The commission is the HIV planning body of the County Board of Supervisors.