HOME

In 1996, the Director of Matthew 25 AIDS Services, Inc, Cyndee Burton, was a parish nurse at the Zion United Church of Christ.

“The Zion United Church of Christ is open and affirming to gays and lesbians,” Cyndee says. “At that time we had three gay men in our congregation who had AIDS. I started a friendly visiting program for them, pulling together a committee from the congregation.”

From that modest beginning, Matthew 25 grew over the years.

“By 1996 we had a support group, and we needed funding. It wasn’t popular to be a faith-based organization seeking funds at that time, so we separated from the church and became our own non-profit.”

“I had never done any grant writing,” Cyndee says. “But I became aware of the Ryan White Program, gathered the forms, and followed the instructions. We got funding of $50,000. Today that wouldn’t go very far, but at the time it was tremendous! Until then I had been doing this work on a volunteer basis. With the funding at last I was able to quit my home health nursing job and go on salary.”

The newly-funded organization’s first task was to survey the needs of people with HIV and AIDS in rural western Kentucky and adjacent Indiana. “People were driving two to two-and-half hours to get to a clinic,” Cyndee says. “So we applied for funds for a local clinic. We hired a nurse practitioner who worked in collaboration with an infectious disease doctor. It’s an arrangement that has been hugely successful. When people come to the clinic, they can get everything done in one visit. All their lab work is done here, plus we have a social worker, care coordinator, adherence nurse, housing counselor, prevention services and a nutritionist on hand. They can get everything done without leaving the building, which is very important in a rural area. We also have a van and volunteer drivers, so if they can’t get here, we go get them.”

Today, Matthew 25 has satellite clinics in Evansville, Indiana and Owensboro, Kentucky, in addition to their headquarters in Henderson, Kentucky. “Every Tuesday we pack up everything and the whole team goes to Evansville,” Cyndee says. “Two Thursdays a month, we go to Owensboro. We don’t have a huge client population, but we cover a huge territory!”

There are challenges to working in a rural setting located, as the saying goes, at the buckle of the Bible Belt.

“This is the South, and there is a lot of stigma here still,” Cyndee says. “We have protesters that come to the clinic. When we have our annual AIDS Walk, protesters come. I tell people, when they see a protester, it means we’re doing good work. And, usually, when people see a protester at one of our events, it inspires them to make a donation!”

In spite of the challenges, Matthew 25 is not going away. “We have 18 people on staff now, so our payroll is starting to be important to the economy in these towns,” Cyndee says. “It’s starting to help with the stigma and some of the issues we had early on.”

“We’re going into our tenth year,” Cyndee says. “And I still get up every morning anxious to go to work.”

You can reach Matthew 25 at:

Matthew 25 AIDS Services, Inc.
411 Letcher Street
Henderson, KY 42420
270 826-0200

Special thanks to Lindy Wicks, who nominated Matthew 25 for this ASO Spotlight!

Copyright 2008, Positive Health Publications, Inc.

This magazine is intended to enhance your relationship with your doctor - not replace it! Medical treatments and products should always be discussed with a licensed physician who has experience treating HIV and AIDS!