MESSAGE FROM JERRY
Jerry Cadotte, Executive Director
The Sierra HOPE staff and I want to welcome you to the relaunch of our newsletter which will be published quarterly and will now be delivered digitally (we are catching up with the rest of the world.) And this wouldn’t be possible without the important support that our donors, community members, volunteers, and valued friends in the business community and across government. If you have anything you’d like to see us cover in this newsletter, drop me a line.
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FEATURE ARTICLE
Sierra HOPE Expands into Housing:
Sierra HOPE expanded its mission in 2020, taking on a broader role that includes addressing homelessness and housing insecurity in Calaveras County. We were inspired to take on this new responsibility because of our headquarters are in Angels Camp, and because of our relationship with the Amador Tuolumne Community Action Agency (ATCAA), which provides similar housing programs in Amador and Tuolumne Counties. A new collaboration with Calaveras County and the Calaveras-Mariposa Community Action Agency is providing additional resources to help expand and grow housing programs in these specific areas. Current projects Sierra HOPE is providing as a result of this new charter include:
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Rapid Rehousing – For those who are experiencing homelessness or are at imminent risk of losing their housing, Rapid Rehousing attempts to help people get into permanent housing as quickly as possible. Sierra HOPE’s Rapid Rehousing project can provide deposits and rental assistance, combined with case management support to help clients stabilize.
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Homeless prevention: Similar to the Rapid Rehousing program but not as comprehensive is Sierra HOPE’s homeless prevention program that provides short-term assistance for those at imminent risk of losing their housing. Funding for homeless prevention comes from both State and private grant sources.
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Permanent Supportive Housing Program – Sierra HOPE has 4 leased apartments in the Supportive Housing Program. These units are reserved for people who are literally homeless and have a diagnosed disability that makes it difficult for them to maintain stable housing. In addition to housing, Sierra HOPE provides on-going case management to help program participants access mainstream services to and maintain stable housing.
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New Transitional House: Sierra HOPE recently purchased a 5-bedroom home in Angels Camp that will serve as its first property intended to serve as a bridge to permanent housing - we're calling it "Hope House of Angels Camp." One of the rooms will be dedicated to an onsite supervisor. A generous $100K state grant provided through Calaveras County is being utilized to add a new ADA accessible bedroom and bath, install an additional bathroom, and make other needed repairs prior to occupancy. Additional support has come from private sources. Pinnell Carpet and Flooring has made generous donations of labor and materials towards the remodel, including construction of the ADA bathroom. The Angels Camp Union Congregational Church furnished and decorated two of the bedrooms. And the First Congregational Church of Murphys adopted several rooms as well as furnishing the kitchen. Thank you all!
With housing as the new anchor, Sierra HOPE Case Managers design programs that deliver a full range of supportive services with the goal of achieving self-sufficiency and a foundation for ongoing housing and food security.
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Faith Lutheran Fundraiser for Housing:
Faith Lutheran Church in Murphys has officially kicked off a new project to renovate the former Senior Center thrift store located on church property into a small 2 bedroom, one bathroom residence which will then be leased to Sierra HOPE as part of its Permanent Supportive Housing program. Faith Lutheran estimates it will need $92,000 to complete the renovation and is reaching out to the community for support.
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FUN RAISERS!
Why We Fundraise
Jamie Leigh, Sierra Hope Board Chair
Every weekend there are one or more fund raising events going on here in the foothills, and there’s a really good reason for that.
Non-profit organizations don’t belong to their founders, their Boards of Directors, or their staff. They belong to the community, and they rely on local community support to carry out their individual missions.
You probably know that many organizations, including Sierra HOPE receive grants from government, businesses and private foundations to fund their programs. Most grants, whether public or private, place strict limits on what their funds can be used for and rarely cover all of the costs of providing a service. Most do not allow any of their funds to be used for operating or administrative costs, or allow very little.
I’ve heard it said that non-profit organization should operate more like a for-profit business. Today, marketing is a crucial element to the success of a start-up company; but for non-profit organizations, there are no line items for community outreach, supplies, insurance, managers or bookkeepers. Fundraising is how we make up the difference so we can at least function like a business while meeting the needs of our constituents.
Coming Soon Online Auction (June 26-27)! In the coming months we’ll be participating in a joint fundraiser with our friends over at The Resource Connection. Sierra HOPE and The Resource Connection will each obtain 10 major auction items for a total of 20 great opportunities to win! As a bonus, we’ll be auctioning 10 themed gift baskets which always make wonderful gifts -- especially for yourself!
The auction will go live June 26-27 and we'll be previewing auction items June 23-24 so you can choose what you want to go after. We'll be emailing you a link so keep an eye out! Please help us make this new fundraising adventure a fun and successful event.
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FOOD PANTRY QUARTERLY SUPPORT -- We hope to do at least a couple of auctions per year and the auction idea is just one event being explored by the fundraising committee. Another is a quarterly drive to restock our food pantry with suggestions based on seasonality and various ways to give support. We're thinking that for people who really care about food insecurity, this could be an ongoing donation that would give Sierra HOPE some predictability where the food pantry is concerned. If you are interested in becoming a quarterly donor, contact Jerry at jerry@sierrahope.org.
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2020 Fundraising Overview
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October -- Walk for HOPE: $13,778 (pretty good considering we all walked apart in this pandemic!!)
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December -- Sierra HOPE Annual Holiday Appeal: $8,000 (Thank you!)
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CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE
If it took less than a year to come up with a COVID-19 vaccine, why do we still not have an HIV/AIDS vaccine?
Xan, Adams, Sierra Hope Board Member
I’ve heard some conspiracy theories on why there is no AIDS vaccine yet after all these years, but none of them are true. Researchers for vaccines are not confined to the US and most do not take directives from US presidents. Dr. Fauci has been at the forefront of research for an HIV/AIDS vaccine since the early 1980s. Much of the reason that such rapid progress was made with the coronavirus vaccines was because the mRNA approach to treating the virus was developed as a way to create an HIV/AIDS vaccine (www.niaid.nih.gov).
The mRNA technology used by Moderna and BioNTech/Pfizer, for instance, has not only produced some of the world’s most-effective Covid-19 vaccines but also appears to offer a repeatable solution, as the same particles carry messenger RNA—genetic material that might be swapped out and tailored to new viral variants. This is very exciting with some people comparing it to being able to “reprogram” the mRNA-based vaccines like “software” that can be “rapidly reprogrammed.”
Hope is renewed that mRNA technology can also be used to fight herpes, malaria, sickle-cell disease, and HIV—as it helped fuel a miraculously fast offering of Covid-19 vaccines, when some predictions held that none would be available for 18 months.
The challenges in developing an HIV vaccine are that HIV hides inside CD4 cells and the fact that it mutates so rapidly. Drugs like PrEP, and the "AIDS drug cocktail," or anti-retro-viral therapy (ART) work by coating or creating barriers on, the receptor sites of the CD4 cells that the virus can't penetrate.1 PEP and the cocktail work by attacking the virus itself.2
PrEP is very effective in preventing the virus in HIV negative people and complicates vaccine trials because people do have a way to keep from getting HIV without a vaccine and it would be unethical to purposefully expose people to HIV when you have a proven preventative. However, PrEP is expensive, at least $2000 a month and must be administered orally, daily. Efforts are underway for long term collectibles or implants that function like PrEP, in order to make this approach applicable globally in rural economic depressed regions. Another reason for promoting a vaccine is that PrEP can have serious side effects including: Headache, abdominal pain and weight loss. Long term side effects can include: Worsening of Hepatitis B infections, kidney problems/failure, and dangerously high calcium blood levels (https://www.truvada.com/what-is-truvada/side-effects).
The short version: It’s no conspiracy that we don’t have an HIV vaccine yet, but because of ongoing research for an HIV vaccine, and successes with coronavirus vaccines, we appear to be a lot closer. Moderna has announced pursuit of developing an HIV vaccine. So, smile, and continue to wear your masks, even if you have received your COVID-19 shot – we need to continue to protect each other. We can still see your eyes smiling.
- (https://www.familycareofkent.com/how-does-prep-work-to-reduce-hiv-infections-2/, https://healthengine.com.au/info/antiretroviral-therapy-anti-hiv-drugs#c3).
- (https://endinghiv.org.au/stay-safe/pep/.)
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