HMUm 1999
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SERVING WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA’S LESBIAN, CAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDERED COMMUNITY
The Western North Carolina AIDS
Project (WNCAP) has received a
$30,000 grant from the Sisters of
Mercy of North Caro Una Foundation,
Inc. to support the Project's Interfaith
in Action (INFACT) program.
INFACT is a coalition of churches
and synagogues founded in 1996 to
promote compassionate and coordi
nated response to HIV/AIDS. The
grant money will help to defray
administrative costs of the INFACT
program over the next three years,
including the salary of a full-time vol
unteer coordinator.
"Participation by local faith commu
nities is key to our dealing with the
AIDS epidemic in North Carolina
over the coming years," said Leslie
Burnside, Executive Director of
WNCAP. "This grant ensures that
we can move forward in drawing on
the caring and talents of local congre
gations to help people living with
HIV and AIDS."
Burnside noted that local faith com
munities have provided care teams to
assist AIDS victims unable to fend for
themselves because of their illness
and have coordinated annual AIDS
healing services. "As people live
longer thanks to advances in AIDS
medications, we will need the
involvement of faith communities
more than ever to help people with
AIDS rebuild their lives," she added.
The Western North Carolina AIDS
Project, an independent non-profit
WNCAP continued on page 18