About Aunt Rita's Foundation

Aunt Rita's Foundation, a volunteer driven non-profit organization founded in 1989, is committed to raising funds to assist local HIV/AIDS service organizations in providing HIV Prevention services and supporting people infected with, and affected by HIV/AIDS in metropolitan Phoenix. Aunt Rita's Foundation is the only organization that provides coordinated, community-wide fund raising for HIV services. Monies raised provide direct services to people living with the disease and their families, and also fund HIV education and awareness initiatives throughout the community -- with special focus on age-appropriate HIV education for children and education/awareness programs targeting communities of color.

Why Assistance is Needed in Our Community

Federal government funding, the primary source of support for disadvantaged individuals living with HIV, is declining. At the same time new HIV infections are increasingly on the rise. Additionally, traditional individual and corporate support for HIV service organizations is not as strong as it once was. Finally, the total number of people living with HIV/AIDS is significantly on the rise, both because those infected are living longer lives and because of a rise in new infections. The cause for alarm now is not that HIV positive individuals with health insurance don't have medication/treatment options. It's because there are increasing numbers of disadvantaged people living with HIV who need to be served with dwindling resources. Ultimately, our community is left with a hard decision: Who do we exclude from care? Do we create waiting lists for services, or change eligibility guidelines to serve fewer people? We must rally the local and national community to a new wave of advocacy before a second HIV/AIDS crisis overwhelms us.