Integrity Alabama Service Project 2003

Integrity Alabama Service Project 2003 Annual Winter Blanket Drive Big Success By David Gary December 28, 2003 More than 350 blankets were distributed during the third annual winter blanket drive coordinated by Integrity Alabama. According to social workers and program leaders through whom Integrity distributed blankets, many people received a holiday gift who would not have gotten one through traditional social service programs. Due to this year’s outstanding monetary and volunteer support, the program was expanded to include distribution of more than 50 gift baskets to people living with HIV/AIDS. More than 20 volunteers donated in excess of 80 hours of their time in November and December to make this project a success.
With funds specifically raised for the project, Integrity members Alan Davis and David Gary purchased enough blankets from a factory outlet to fill two cargo vans in mid-December, setting off a chain of events that resulted in blanket distribution to needy individuals and families.	Connie Gray, Adryenne Hoffler and Eddie Taylor from AIDS Alabama receive blankets and Christmas gift bags for distribution to adult clients of Agape House, Jasper House and the Rectory, housing complexes in Birmingham for people living with HIV/AIDS. Pictured with them is Integrity member Robert Lindsay (right) who coordinated Integrity's effort to provide the Christmas gifts made possible through Integrity's annual winter service project. (Photo by Marshall Johnson.)
Approximately 40 blankets, which included 20 colorful children’s blankets, were provided to Jefferson County DHR workers. These blankets were placed in underserved homes. Blankets were also provided to soup kitchen volunteers at Community Kitchens for time-of-need distribution during the winter months. Community Kitchens serves Birmingham’s Southside Woodlawn areas with soup kitchens established in 1980 and a food service training program that began in 1995. Funding for the food service training program is thru HUD and is for homeless individuals. Grace Episcopal Church, Woodlawn Scene of Major Distribution Eight volunteer parishioners and friends from Grace Church Woodlawn, including the Rev. Dr. Ruth LaMonte, interim rector and Integrity member Steven Schneider, processed more than 200 blankets and pillows for distribution at Grace. An assembly line was set up in Henckell Hall where blankets were unloaded from large shipping boxes, folded to fit into zippered plastic carrying cases and pillows inserted then staged for distribution at the annual Grace By Day Christmas Party. An annual event where Grace parishioners, Grace By Day volunteers, Community Kitchens clients and Woodlawn residents celebrate the holidays, the party was also the primary distribution point for blanket distribution in this Birmingham neighborhood.
Grace by Day is a nonprofit ministry to needy people primarily within Birmingham’s Woodlawn neighborhood. Limited emergency food and clothing aid is provided as well as hospitality and transportation assistance for the unemployed and sick. Grace Episcopal Church sponsors Grace by Day with ecumenical leadership from around Birmingham.	Former Integrity convener Marshall Johnson looks over Christmas gift bags prepared for more than 50 Birmingham-area people living with HIV/AIDS. The bags primarily consisted of personal hygiene items that are not readily available through existing social services programs.

In addition to Integrity’s past partnership with Grace Church to purchase and distribute blankets to clients of Grace By Day, Community Kitchens, Habitat for Humanity, Jefferson County DHR and people living with AIDS, this year’s effort included two additional highlights: Preparation and Distribution from St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church Parishioners from St. Andrew’s-Birmingham gathered to process blankets for distribution from the parish hall to clients served by Community Kitchens. In addition to strongly supporting the project monetarily, St. Andrew’s parishioners enthusiastically responded to calls for volunteer participation that was coordinated by Gerri Aston, Andrea Blackert, Louise Cecil and Bridget Tytler. The Rev. Marc Burnett, as a part of the Christmas Eve service, blessed the blankets. According to St. Andrew’s junior warden Louise Cecil, who was part of the team on hand to deliver more than 60 blankets on Christmas day, the distribution was meaningful to those both giving and receiving. Cecil reported that a five-year old child, part of a family who came to the parish hall to work in the soup kitchen on Christmas day, wished every client a heartwarming “Merry Christmas” while handing out the blankets.
	Birmingham fabric artist Donna Rice, right, made 55 fleece hats which were distributed to clients of Agape and Jasper Houses as a part of Integrity Alabama's winter service project 2003. With Rice is her mother Jane Pierce from St. Luke's Birmingham and Integrity supporter.
Clients at Four Different HIV/AIDS Group Homes Serviced This Year More than 50 holiday gift bags, consisting primarily of personal hygiene products that are not readily available through existing public health programs, were assembled by Integrity member Robert Lindsay for distribution to people living with HIV/AIDS. According to a social worker at Agape House, Christmas presents are always provided by other organizations for the children who live in the complex. However, adult clients are most often overlooked. Because of the outstanding response to Integrity’s 2003 service project, the original plan to provide gift baskets for 24 clients was expanded to 52 to ensure every adult in the complex had a gift bag. For more than a month Lindsay coordinated the effort of gathering needed toiletries for the gift bags. His Hoover living room was filled with brightly colored bags that were filled with gloves, hats, socks, tooth brushes, dental floss, toothpaste, combs, soaps, hand lotion, sponges, blankets, pillows, razors, cotton swabs, shampoo and candy. Marshall Johnson, former Integrity Alabama convener, was in charge of delivering the baskets, blankets and pillows to AIDS Alabama, which in turn distributed them to clients of Birmingham’s Agape I and Agape II houses, The Rectory and Jasper House. “The social workers on hand to receive the packages were overwhelmed,” Johnson said. In addition to the items purchased for this part of the service project, an extraordinary expression of love and creativity occurred when fabric artist Donna Rice made 55 fleece hats to be included in the gift bags. A friend of Integrity, Rice is the daughter of Integrity member Jane Pierce who also assisted in the project. According to the department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), lack of adequate, safe, affordable housing continues to be a problem for individuals living with HIV disease in the City of Birmingham. From HUD: “AIDS Alabama continues to face opposition from different groups throughout the City in developing housing. In response to this issue, AIDS Alabama continues to attend neighborhood association meetings in the hope of educating the public about how the disease is spread and the need for affordable housing for all persons, especially those disabled by this disease. “Agape House and Agape II offer apartment complex living in Birmingham for persons with HIV/AIDS. There are 25 one-bedroom units, 3 two-bedroom units, and 2 three-bedroom units in these two complexes. JASPER House opened in April 2002 in Birmingham and offers 14 beds in a single room occupancy model for persons who are unable to live independently due to their HIV status, mental illness, and/or addiction challenges. All occupants are low-income and HIV-positive.” + + + Integrity Alabama is an outreach organization of worship and ministry serving as a, “Witness of the Episcopal Church to the gay and lesbian community and as a witness of the gay and lesbian community to the Episcopal Church.” Since 1994, it has worked to find or help establish supportive worship environments and spiritual nourishment. In addition to worship, its programs include education, service, advocacy and outreach. The local chapter, which has monthly meetings with a typical attendance of 20, is affiliated with national Integrity, Inc., a non-profit organization founded more than 25 years ago in rural Georgia by Dr. Louie Crew. Integrity was founded as a grassroots voice for the full inclusion in the Episcopal Church and equal access to those rights.