AFL has three programs to meet the objective of providing the necessary nutrition to the PLWHA (people living withHIV/AIDS) population. Food for all programs is obtained from USDA, Second Harvest and open market vendors.
1) Home Delivered Meals Program (HDMP)
2) Food Pantry Program (FPP)
3) Nutritional Supplement Program (NSP)
(1) The Home Delivered Meals Program (HDMP) is accomplished by: cooking, packaging and delivering lunch and dinner, seven days a week to homebound PLWHA. The meals are hand delivered to each client by volunteers using their own automobiles. This program has served 93 clients this past year, two who are children infected with HIV/AIDS. The menus are sent quarterly to The Florida State Department of Health to be reviewed and approved by a nutritionist. The food services coordinator, who is a Chef with a BA in Culinary Arts, supervises the kitchen volunteers: The program coordinator supervises the drivers. The drivers not only provide their own transportation, but also pay for their own gas. Last year over 26,500 miles were driven. To be eligible for participation the client must fit within the guidelines of the Eligibility Reference Chart.
(2) The Food Pantry Program (FPP) was started in 2006 to address the needs of the homeless people living with HIV/AIDS. Clients visit the food pantry twice a month to obtain nutritional food; each receives 25lbs of food with an average value of $45.00 per visit. Currently the food pantry is open each Tuesday and Thursday. The FPP is staffed by one volunteer per shift and supervised by the program coordinator. It is an objective of AFL to allow the client to come weekly to choose 7 of 12 frozen nutritious meals thus guaranteeing a proper diet. This additional service will allow client participation in menu selection, as the client can choose from a variety of offerings. It is hoped that this exercise of choice will help build self-esteem.
(3) The Nutritional Supplement Program (NSP) provides Ensure, per a physician’s written prescription. Medicaid discontinued its coverage of Ensure a few years ago. Some clients require the supplement, without which they would not be able to tolerate their medication. Many of our clients suffer from wasting syndrome. Wasting syndrome causes the patient to lose body fat as well as lean body mass, leaving them weak and susceptible to further illness. This is usually found in the latter stages of HIV/AIDS infection. The Nutrition Supplement Program (NSP) program has been distributed through the Food Pantry Program (FPP) since April 2007 and the Home Delivered Meal Program (HDMP) since 2006. Currently about 175 cases of Ensure are distributed each month at an approximate cost of $25,000 annually.