Lucky are the cities in the U.S. with a safe, loving place where people with HIV/AIDS can go for healthcare support, educational programs, job training and placement, meals and other resources. In Albany, New York, the Albany Damien Center is that place. Housing Works collaborates with the center frequently on matters of New York State advocacy for people with HIV/AIDS. The center provides two hot meals a day to 50 clients and other resources to up to 400 more. Factor in services that help those clients’ families and you’re looking at about 1,000 folks that the ADC regularly helps.

But last week, the beautiful turn-of-the-century home that houses the Damien Center was destroyed in an early morning fire. (Luckily, nobody was in the building.) The fire, which started in the basement, does not seem to be suspicious. The building is salvageable, but it’ll take time to rebuild it.

Meanwhile, says Damien Center executive director Perry Junjulas, all ADC services are operating out of the nearby First Lutheran Church. Please consider making a small donation to the ADC here via PayPal or through the mail. You’ll help this terrific center, founded in 1990, keep on helping clients like Terri Gonhue, who told the Albany Times-Union that the center had provided a helping hand on days when she was too sick to even care for her dog.

“I was alone, but I wasn’t alone because I had the Albany Damien Center,” Gonhue said.