Every dollar makes a difference

Almost 6 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa. This staggering number represents the world's largest population of people living with this disease. Over 300,000 are children. South Africa has over 1.9 million AIDS orphans. It's really mind boogling and hard to conceptualize how many people are impacted by this disease. I've visited our sister hospice twice and it's still hard for me to articulate the enormity of this.

In order to meet this need, our sister hospice needs your help. Every dollar you contribute to the Hospice Association of the Witwatersrand makes a difference. Consider what $52 dollars a year (a dollar a week) provides:

• almost a month of medication for a patient, or
  
• food parcels for a month, or
  
• one and a half nursing visits a month
  

If you save two dollars a week, your $104 donation pays for:

• almost one day of in-patient care or


• 15 days of care at Mapetla per child
  

$2.00 a day pays for:

• one month usage of a hospice owned vehicle shared with a nursing sister to make home visits, or



• slightly more than one month's cost of a cook at the Soweto office. The cooks prepare hot food for the adults and children in the in-patient units as well as the lunch for the HIV/AIDS adult Daycare patients, or


• A month salary for two community care workers (home health aides)
  

During this season of giving, I ask you to reflect upon the many gifts in your life and what you can do to make a difference in the lives of those our sister hospice cares for.