AAP-Food Samaritans Observes Thirtieth Anniversary
Founded in 1991 by Gloria Greene, Joanna Jakway, and Jeannette Rockefeller, AAP-Food Samaritans (formerly AIDS Assistance Program) will observe their thirtieth anniversary in 2021. To celebrate its thirtieth year, AAP-Food Samaritans has launched this year’s Jeannette Rockefeller Angel Program giving cycle.
In its thirty years of operation, AAP-Food Samaritans has distributed more than $13-million in direct client service to more than 2,750 clients living in the Coachella Valley (within a twenty-five miles radius of Palm Springs). The group distributes monthly food vouchers to each carefully vetted client. Clients may use these vouchers for food, household needs such as toiletries, hygienic products, and other personal items.
The Angel Program honors AAP’s “founding mothers” and supports the group’s mission to help feed low-income people living with HIV/AIDS and/or other chronic illnesses. The group usually kicks off the Angel Program with a large event, like the award-winning “Evening Under the Stars,” cancelled this year because of current restrictions on large gatherings. Instead, Angel Program participants are asked to make contributions online to support AAP’s important nutrition program.
To commemorate AAP’s thirty years of service to the community, they have prepared a commemorative retrospective album that honors those individuals and organizations who have been so much a part of AAP’s story. The album honors those involved from its humble beginnings to the many talented and philanthropic individuals and organizations that AAP has recognized over the years.
“2021 marks thirty years since our organization was created,” Mark Anton, CEO and Executive Director of AAP-Food Samaritans, said in a press release. “With the expansion of our mission in 2015, we changed our name to better reflect the inclusion of low-income people living with other chronic illnesses in addition to HIV/AIDS. We know that being part of this community means helping those among us who are struggling, and we will continue to serve all who need us with the help of our dedicated community.”
To view the commemorative album and to make a donation to AAP-Food Samaritans, log on to: www.aapfoodsamaritans.org.
—Reporting by Hank Trout
Hank Trout, Senior Editor, edited Drummer, Malebox, and Folsom magazines in the early 1980s. A long-term survivor of HIV/AIDS (diagnosed in 1989), he is a forty-year resident of San Francisco, where he lives with his husband Rick. Follow him on Twitter @HankTroutWriter.