Sacramento HIV-positive homeless find comfort here, but need a way to keep healthy food fresh

After a long series of stretches living in homelessness, Jade, 47, of Sacramento, has found the perfect place to get her health and well-being back on track.

She participates in a program called Open Arms in a small shelter run by Volunteers of America that serves individuals who are HIV-positive or living with AIDS.

Jade, who wished to be identified by her first name only, now has a warm bed, the support of caseworkers and a “family” of others similarly situated. Her goal during the 90-day stay is to absorb all that Open Arms has to offer, improve her health, get housing and a job or some other source of income.

“I was one of the first to move into Open Arms’ facility three months ago,” said Jade. “It’s like the universe has brought me here to a higher place of growing, with good, kind, open-hearted people.

“I can lay my head on the pillow at night knowing that I am safe, and someone has my back… they gave this place the right title.”

To help feed those in need

VOA, one of the largest providers of social services in the Northern California and Nevada regions, provides shelter or housing to more than 3,500 people each night. VOA officials say the small Open Arms facility is the only shelter that caters exclusively to the unhoused who are HIV-positive or living with AIDs in Sacramento.

Anna Cornelius, program manager at Open Arms, said VOA operated a smaller 12-person facility in another location for 30 years, but closed it down a year ago in order to expand to a new larger site.

Three months ago, VOA re-started its Open Arms program in a new undisclosed location that houses 20 guests at a time. It has 17 guests currently and most of the equipment it needs to operate.

Except for one thing: Open Arms lacks a commercial refrigerator where guests can place individual food items that are compatible with their specific dietary requirements.

The cost is $3,500, and VOA is asking for help from readers of The Sacramento Bee’s Book of Dreams Fund at the Sacramento Region Community Foundation to help raise the necessary funding.

Since Open Arms reopened, Shalon Geralds, a counselor with One Community Health’s midtown clinic, has referred many people to the shelter.

“By all means, they definitely need that commercial refrigerator,” she said. “A home is not a home without a refrigerator, right? The same is true of Open Arms. Guests land there. You get a nice warm bed, but when you get to the kitchen, where do you put your foodstuff?”

Provide a diet for health

Storing the right foods is paramount, she said, because nutrition is especially important when you are HIV-positive or living with AIDS.

The National Institute of Health’s HIV Information website emphasizes that patients with the condition need to be hyper focused on eating right.

A good diet helps people maintain a strong immune system, supports absorption of HIV medications and prevents complications from the disease. In addition, Geralds said every individual’s nutritional requirements differ.

“A lot of HIV-positive people also struggle with high blood pressure, diabetes and other conditions,” she said. “Some people can’t drink milk; others can only drink almond milk.

“We give them Safeway food cards, and our nutritionists give a cooking class once a week where we give them the ingredients in a bag to take home. If someone at Open Arms doesn’t have a refrigerator, where are they going to store their stuff?“

Geralds said Open Arms Safe House is a real asset to the community. “By all means, they need a refrigerator. Need I say more?”

Book of Dreams

The dream: Volunteers of America needs a commercial refrigerator at its Open Arms shelter for unhoused people who are HIV-positive or living with AIDS

The cost: $3,500