Bobby is a survivor...
He’s been living with HIV since 1996, and he has an undetectable viral load. But when he and his wife moved to Indianapolis suddenly, they couldn’t afford a place to live. Bobby found a job in waste management, but his pay wasn’t enough. No shelters would accept them as a couple, so they chose to stay on the streets together.
When he asked if there was anything he could do as an HIV-positive male, a first responder directed him to Damien Center.
“I was a little nervous at first, like going to class on the first day in school. I didn't know what to feel about it. But then after a while, after seeing how it was ran, and where I was placed and how helpful everyone is, it's been a blessing ever since then.”
“It's been astronomical. The help that they gave me, they just welcomed us on in. They just treat us like family. They treat us like better than family, actually, in some cases.”
Richard is resilient...
Richard remembers receiving his HIV diagnosis clearly. It was 2000, and he was out celebrating after Pride. He took an HIV test and forgot about it until he got a call back a couple weeks later.
“The color just drained out of my face, and I was like, you're kidding me, right?” he recalls. “I’m the person out of the group that really doesn't do nothing much, and you're going to tell me that I'm the lucky one. On the inside, I was up there screaming at the top of my lungs.”
He says living with HIV is still a daily challenge. “If anybody that's got this tell you that it's a cakewalk, it's a piece of cake, no, it's not. Your mortality is always in the front of your head.”
His message to supporters of Damien Center
“I would like to say, first and foremost, thank you. At a point in time in this community where it was nothing but darkness, fear, and no hope, you came and you was able to bring light to a whole community.”
You are helping “so many people that feel like they're disenfranchised, that they're kicked to the curb, that people don't want to be bothered with them, don't want to be touched by them. And your contribution would be so helpful to those that cannot ask someone in your position for that help.”
“So I would say thank you for contribution, time, money, whatever, that you give Damien. Because without that, there's so many people that would not be able to get help. And you're making just, if it's just one person, you're making their life just one step easier on this earth.”
