Colorado: Life Improves for AIDS Patients

The Colorado AIDS Project food bank helps people with HIV/AIDS maintain a high quality of life, according to food bank Coordinator Diana Cable. "Most AIDS medications have to be taken with food in mind," Cable said. "Some are best taken an hour before eating. There are other drugs that must be taken with a little more fat in the diet than most people are used to," she said, while certain foods and beverages must be avoided. But when weight and nutrition are maintained, "the drugs can do what they're meant to do and you can maintain quality of life."

The food bank's annual $128,000 budget comes mostly from grants, Cable said, with another 10 percent from donations. Cable shops at wholesale warehouses and retail stores for nutritious offerings. "It keeps our clients from having food insecurity," Cable said, "worrying about where they are going to find food to take their medications with."

Colorado AIDS Project, founded in 1983, has helped 10,000 clients to date. The project has 45 staffers, 200 volunteers and an annual budget of $4.3 million. For more information, visit www.coloradoaidsproject.org.

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