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A Loving Spoonful

Fulfilling the most basic needs of people with HIV/AIDS

Kevin is a slight, gentle man who dreams of walking his daughter down the aisle when she marries her high school sweetheart next year. His goal is as much about becoming healthy emotionally as it is about helping his physical state. Thanks to the support he’s receiving, he’s well on his way to achieving it. He’s gained weight since he began receiving free, healthy meals a few months ago, and, for the first time in years, he’s making plans for his own future.

While Kevin’s story is unique, he shares the same needs as the 40 million men, women, and children who are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. Like Kevin, they need access to safe and nutritious food to maintain a healthy weight so they can fight their disease. Sadly, that’s not always possible. People suffering from HIV/AIDS often live in poverty, or are unable to shop for food or prepare nutritious meals for themselves. As a result, a staggering 80 percent of deaths caused by AIDS are precipitated by malnutrition, rather than by the disease itself.

A Loving Spoonful is on a mission to change that — a mission that the Shooting Stars Foundation has been proud to support. Established in 1989, A Loving Spoonful is a non-partisan society that provides free, nutritious meals to approximately 250 women, men, and children living with HIV/AIDS in the Greater Vancouver area. In 2004, A Loving Spoonful’s Café Chez What? meal program was selected as one of seven recipients of the Foundation’s annual grant program. The funding has made a difference in the lives of many: it’s helped A Loving Spoonful reach out to 50 women and men from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside who badly needed additional support — either because they lacked refrigeration, cooking facilities, or cooking skills, or they lived in poverty, or they suffered from a mental illness.

The agency’s support to these people has been far-reaching. Besides providing them with three extra meals a week — high in protein and calories – and the support of a dietician who helps them to optimize their food intake, A Loving Spoonful has nurtured their hunger for social interaction. Since people afflicted with AIDS can be homebound for extended periods, they are often isolated from the rest of the world. But A Loving Spoonful’s clients have found a healing centre through the Café Chez What? program — a place where they can experience social interaction in a respectful environment.

As these clients build their nutritional health and improve their life skills, they will become more self-reliant and less dependent on community agencies like A Loving Spoonful. Meanwhile, A Loving Spoonful continues to enhance the quality of life for men, women, and children with HIV/AIDS by meeting their most basis human needs — because no one living with AIDS should live with hunger. That’s definitely food for thought.