Community Connections, September, 1991 Page 3
ALFA: On the Go
An Interview with Director Steve Yount
by Ron Huskins
After almost two years of operating
out of the trunk of a car, the AIDS
Leadership Foothills Area Alliance
(ALFA) has moved into office space in
Hickory. ALFA, which was based in
Drexel until March of this year, serves
the Unifour Area, which includes
Alexander, Burke, Catawba and Caldwell
Counties. McDowell and Rutherford
Counties, which were served by ALFA in
the past, will now be
Western North Carolina
(WNCAP) in Asheville.
ALFA has survived
served by the
AIDS Project
early growing
pains and is at the point where they can
do what they were set up to do—achieve
quality performance in meeting the direct
care needs of persons affected by AIDS,
and educating the community at large
about AIDS. But, according to Chief
Operating Officer Steve Yount, "I
couldn’t have said that a year ago."
Yount, who helped start an AIDS
service organization in Florida and came
to the Hickory area with some valuable
experience, said that, in the beginning,
funding was provided by the volunteer
board members who took money out of
their own pockets to keep ALFA going.
It was very difficult at first to get the
community-including the health care
community-to respond to the needs of
AIDS victims.
All that is all changing now, thanks to
the visibility of the people involved with
ALFA and the new board of directors.
Yount says of the Board, "Having been in
this business for so long, I’ve seen so
many well-intentioned people without the
ability to pull off what needs to be done,
but the board that we have has that
ability." The Board includes gays and
non-gays, blacks and whites, men and
women—all from the professional
community. Yount went on to say that at
Betty Byrum and Steve Yount
a planning retreat, the old board decided
to replace themselves "with people with
more knowledge, more expertise, more
community support, more visibility."
They decided to "let the professionals take
it and turn ALFA into an agency instead
of a grass-roots effort." This was done
with great caution because "one misplaced
person can really topple your intent,"
Yount added,
well for us."
ALFA’s
'It has worked very, very
new office and some
renovations were paid for by a local
Presbyterian church. The Lutheran
church bought a new copying machine and
gave the old one to ALFA. Hospice of
North Carolina presented ALFA with a
$20,000 grant, which pays for the office
manager. Hospice of Catawba County
pays for the volunteer coordinator. ALFA
has also just been awarded a grant from
the Ryan White Fund in the amount of
$35,000. Most of this money will go for
direct support.
About 30 people are clients at ALFA
and Yount fully expects that number to
double within the next six months. "They
are also presenting us with a lot more
difficult problems," Yount said. "Up until
now, people were coming to us already in
a crisis situation, ... but now that the
community is aware that we’re here,
people are being referred to us much
earlier. We’re also being given these
clients at a stage where they literally don’t
know what resources are available."
Excellent referral services have been
provided by Club Cabaret, a local gay
bar, and the North Carolina Royal Court,
which has done an outstanding job at
fundraising for direct support for PWA’s.
"They find out about more people than we
have access to here at the agency," Yount
commented.
An advantage of having office space
and a paid volunteer coordinator is that it
helps broaden the volunteer base.
Volunteers are evenly split between the
gay and non-gay community, and ALFA
needs more. Volunteer Coordinator Betty
Byrum said, "We need volunteers in all
areas." Organizational volunteers as well
as Buddy Program volunteers are needed.
The latter go through an orientation
program for some basic training.
ALFA has two back-to-back events
planned for October. On Friday, October
18, a Candlelight Vigil in remembrance of
all people affected by AIDS will be held
on the square in downtown Hickory at
7:30 PM. On Saturday, October 19, the
Second Annual AIDS Walk will be held in
downtown Hickory. The goal of the
WALK is to raise community awareness
about HIV disease and to encourage
education about HIV disease. Last year
the walk-a-thon raised well over $2000,
according to ALFA News, a bi-monthly
newsletter published by ALFA. The 10K
walk begins at 8:15 AM. Everyone is
invited to participate in and/or support
these events. For more information, call
1-800-473-1447 or (in Hickory) 322-1447.
LETSA:
An Oasis
for Lesbians
LETSA stands for Lesbians of East
Tennessee and Surrounding Areas.
LETSA is a support/social group for
lesbians who live in the area around
Johnson City, Kingsport, and Bristol, TN,
and Bristol, VA. Women from S.W.
Virginia come occasionally, as well.
We wanted to know more about this
group of women in a remote, rural area of
Tennessee, so we talked to one of the
group’s regulars, Martha McLean.
McLean is well-known to those who have
been involved in Asheville’s lesbian
community for several years. Until she
went back to graduate school, McLean
was very involved in the Asheville
community. She has lived in the Johnson
City area since 1987. "It’s pretty closeted
up here," McLean remarked, "much
different from
Asheville,"
which has a
history of
being open to
more diversi
ty. It’s an
achievement
for this group
to have been
in existence
for two and
o n e - h a 1 f
years.
Photo by C.A. Whittemore
, Martha McLean
M cLean
reported that LETSA came into being in
March 1989. Before LETSA, there was
a group called ET AL, which stood for
East Tennessee Alternative Lifestyles. ET
AL was an organization for both gay men
and lesbians, and met every Monday
night. "As an offshoot of that group, we
Continued on next page -
CHARLOTTE STREET CAFE
132 Charlotte St., Ashevillle, NC 28801 704-251-1427
Open Monday through Saturday
® Drive thru service • Catering available
Warm, friendly staff
Natural Light
O BEER
HONEY HILL FARMS
The Test Things in Life are^Free!
Wholeheartedly healing together’
Deb Criss
Denise Newborne
HEALTHY INSPIRATIONS
Therapeutic Massage • Breathwork
Energy Balancing • Nutritional Advice
(704) 251-1116
Carpentry
by Lucy
• certified master residential carpenter
• licensed journeyman carpenter
• home improvements
• wall covering and painting
over 12 years experience
LUCY NEHLS • 658-2228