Local HIV/AIDS Center Marks Big Milestone

The numbers of HIV-infected Minnesotans may have leveled off in recent years following several sharp increases, but demand keeps increasing at Minneapolis nonprofit The Aliveness Project . To meet that need, the group is raising money to renovate  at 38th and Nicollet.

The group recently announced it had reached the halfway mark in raising the $2 million dollars it needs to move from its current digs at 38th and Chicago into its new home, according to the Southwest Journal . If construction goes according to plan, the group will be able to move early next year.

Tim Marburger, the organization's Director of Fundraising, told Patch that the Aliveness Project now serves twice as many people as it did when it opened in 2001. Beyond larger numbers of newly-positive clients showing up at its doors, the organization's older clients are also living longer, Marburger said, making their current home a cramped place, no matter how much support and love flows within its walls.

In addition, most people who contract HIV today are put on expensive drug regimens, Marburger said. The cost makes the meals, food shelf, workshops, counseling, and symptom-managing therapies the group offers free of charge all the more valuable.