W. Phila. AIDS clinics receive local grants

Two West Philadelphia organizations providing AIDS care will receive grants through a program of the Philadelphia Office of Housing and Community Development. Calcutta House, located at 45th and Walnut streets, received $60,000 to continue providing AIDS patients who cannot care for themselves with a comfortable place to live and caring for their needs, according to its director, Sister Joanne Whitaker. The Family Planning Council of Southeastern Pennsylvania, which operates the Circle of Care program at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, received $40,000. Circle of Care is a pediatric AIDS program which helps parents of HIV-infected children cope with their bills and health care, said coordinator of programs planning and development Mary Hale Meyer. It also coordinates activities with Action AIDS at 40th and Market streets. Meyer said the increased funding will allow Circle of Care to hire a housing counselor. "The housing counselor would divide his time between the Circle of Care sites," Meyer said. "This will be a tremendous boost." She said that $7500 of the grant will be added to an "emergency needs fund" which provides "direct grants to families of women with children who need funds to pay rent or pay utility bills in order to keep them from becoming homeless." Circle of Care currently works with 432 families, and Meyer said she expects this number to increase to 530 by the end of June. Calcutta House will use its grant to construct a 12-bed facility on Girard Avenue and hire a social worker, Whitaker said. "We provide rooms, food and clothing if necessary," Whitaker said. "We'll give them care up until the point where they die." "Some of our residents are here for well over a year, and some for a few months -- it all depends on when they get here," she said. Whitaker added that they also conduct social activities to try to make the residents' lives a little more pleasant. The funds for the grants to Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS programs throughout Philadelphia were provided by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD awarded the City of Philadelphia $766,000, said contract administrator for the HOPWA contracts, Leah Chaplan. Chaplan said she is pleased that HUD decided to respond to the special need of the HIV-infected population. "I am really glad that HUD has seen that there is a need to provide housing for this population," she said.