Organization Establishes Fund to Assist Agencies Devastated by Hurricane
Under One Roof, will assist HIV/AIDS organizations, with “The Above and Beyond Fund.” The agency already assists 35 AIDS agencies as a rule. Since 1990 the mission of Under One Roof has been to generate unrestricted funding for AIDS service organizations.
“The images of devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina are above and beyond anything most of us have ever witnessed here in the United States,” said Mike Marshall, executive director of the agency.
Under One Roof has created a diverse advisory panel of local HIV healthcare providers who will advise the board of directors of the agency on how the funds should be distributed.
You can make a donation online at underoneroof.org or mail it to: 549 Castro Street, San Francisco, CA 94114.
Wanting to fight the disease that was ravaging their community, a group of friends joined together in 1990 to create a small retail shop, the proceeds from which they would give to local AIDS service organizations. Two years later Under One Roof opened its year-round store, dedicated to providing unrestricted funding to those agencies that had limited fund-raising capabilities. Under One Roof has grown to a $1.2 million year entity that still functions as a collaborative effort run primarily by volunteers behind the scenes and on the floor. Fifteen years after the store’s opening as the AIDS epidemic changes and funding sources diminish, the organization’s mission has become more critical than ever, according to staff.
Marshall reported recently that he mailed checks totaling $18,304.67 addressed to the 32 AIDS service organizations invested in Under One Roof. Marshall joked that at that rate Under One Roof is a better investment for the agencies involved than the San Francisco real estate market.
Store hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. M-Sat. and 11-7 on Sundays.
For more information call 1-800-525-2125.
Also in San Francisco, a salsa benefit was held Sept. 11th for hurricane survivors by the salsa community in the Bay Area with a benefit concert and dance party.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has established a crisis hotline for people to call which is 1-866-615-8700.
