Hello from Alabama!
We arrived in Birmingham on Saturday evening after a long 12 hour drive from Columbia. We're staying at St. Francis of Assisi church. They have a retreat center with 4 bedrooms and bathrooms, a comfy living room and big kitchen and dining room. Father Paul is the coolest guy we've met and everyone is so accommodating.
On Sunday morning we were invited to Palm Sunday services at the church. After the mass Fr. Paul introduced us to the whole congregation and they sang the "Welcome Song" to us. On Sunday afternoon we were asked to volunteer at Birmingham AIDS Outreach's "Bon Voyage party" fundraiser. The best part of the event was the entertainment. The MC was Elaine Hendrix. You know her as Lindsay Lohan's evil future stepmom in The Parent Trap. We also saw some amazing country and Broadway singers and The Sugar Babies, a tap dancing group of old ladies. Their rendition of Single Ladies was priceless.
After a long exhausting day we ordered a pizza and crashed at the retreat center. On Monday we started our day with a tour of the AIDS Alabama offices. Then we moves across town to the AIDS Alabama campus. The difference between AIDS Alabama and most other AIDS coalitions is that they have a focus on housing. As they say at AIDS Alabama, housing=healthcare. They have several housing structures for people living with AIDS. We were lucky enough to get to hear from the CEO of the organization, Kathie Hiers. She has recently been appointed to President Obama's team to fight the war on AIDS in the United States. She is going to work to make sure the South gets as much funding to fight AIDS as the big cities and the coasts do. She gave us insight as to how bad the problem of AIDS is in the South.
Then, we had our most powerful speaker. Janet gave us an HIV 101 presentation where we learned about the proper way to reduce your risk of contracting HIV. She then told us her powerful story about living with AIDS. It really helped us understand who we're helping and why we're here.
After lunch we started to get our hands dirty planting a garden for the patients. Many of them sat outside in the warm afternoon sun while we planted getting to know us and thanking us for beautifying their home.
Last night kicked off our girls vs. bros competition. The bros cooked dinner while the girls napped. When the boys were finally done they got dressed up and escorted us into the dining room where they had set the table and lit candles. We all enjoyed delicious pasta, cheesy bread, and salad...and ice cream sundaes for dessert!
The girls have a lot to live up to when they make dinner on Thursday. Today, we're volunteering at the Birmingham AIDS Outreach offices. We spent all morning cleaning out the food pantry and scrubbing down the floors. After lunch we'll reorganize the food pantry. It's hard work, lots of heavy lifting and cleaning, but we're having fun doing it!
Tonight, we hope to explore some of Birmingham and get plenty of rest before our big day of mural painting at AIDS Alabama tomorrow.
Check back for updates.
'Bama love!
Erin O'Neil
erin.oneil@mail.mizzou.edu
(773)562-0611
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