Searchlight Vol. 3, no. 1

WHAT IS A CURE
WORTH TO YOU?
by Robert Hohman, Vice President

Paul has AIDS. He was diagnosed about
a year ago. It hasn't been an easy year.
He's been in and out of the hospital several times in the past five months. We
spent our third anniversary in the intensive care ward. For that matter, we spent
most of the month of October in the hospital. I'm not sick, my companion isbut I sure am sick of AIDS. And since
this nightmare began, it has all boiled
down to a lot of miserable suffering,
wasted time, tiresome paperwork, and
an incredible financial drain. AIDS has
taken over our lives.
My friends have been terrific in showing
their concern for my well-being. Almost
everyone has uttered the words "let me
know if there's anything I can do." Well,
there is something you can do.
We need you to make a long-term financial commitment, now, to eradicate AIDS
as quickly as possible.
First of all, I know that you don't have a
lot of money. In these recessionary
times, most folks seem to have less than
they used to. But it is in everyone's interest to find a cure, and find it now. It
doesn't take a lot of statisticians to tell
you that the costs associated with AIDS
(medical costs, support systems, revenues lost because of illness) are escalating at an exponential rate. The sooner
we cure AIDS, we benefit not only in
human terms but also in avoiding personal and collective financial jeopardy.
The way I see it, we can't afford not to
take individual responsibility for finding
the cure-it just won't happen otherwise. This, of course, was the reason
SEARCH Alliance came into being.
Secondly, I know that there are a lot of
people after your money. It's a new year,
and it's a great time to evaluate how you
wish to distribute your personal philanthropy. One of the most important things

you can do in this new year is to get educated as to how your charitable donations are spent. For example, I'm sure
that you have probably given money to
any number of social service organizations that provide invaluable services to
people suffering from AIDS. And most
people assume that these funds are spent
in a diverse fashion, including education,
support systems, and medical research.
By the dictate of their organizational
charters, most of these organizations
spend little or no money on researchthey direct none of their monies towards
actually finding a cure for AIDS. Each of
us should continue to support these worthy non-profit organizations, but we are
simply propagating an AIDS industry if
we do not put the lion's share of our
AIDS dollars into medical research.
Be smart with whatever money you
choose to spend on AIDS charities.
Make informed decisions as you give.
Our goal must be to put AIDS behind
us, not to carry it into the next century.
We must believe that we can rid the
world of this disease.
Let's say that you too are tired of sitting
on the sidelines and decide to make the
on-going commitment necessary for us
to find a cure as quickly as possible. If
you decide that SEARCH Alliance is your
best investment (and I hope you do), ask
yourself this question-what is a cure
for AIDS worth to you personally? Think
about someone you know (if not yourself) who is affected by HIV or AIDS. Is
their life, and the idea of saving their life,
worth $600 a year to you? If you dine
out once or twice less per month, you'd
probably be able to afford $50 per
month. Think of it as an investment in
hope. Maybe you can afford more,
maybe less. But do something.
Volunteer your time and skills if you can't
afford a financial investment at this time,
because it's not going to happen without
all of us taking AIDS head on.

QEQE Q Q Q Q

0 0 o SEARCHLIGHT January/February,1993

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