AIDS Service Center Closes

Pasadena-based AIDS Service Center (ASC), one of Los Angeles County’s preeminent non-profits helping people living with HIV/AIDS, announced  Thursday that after 28 years of service it will cease operations.

ASC touched thousands of lives in its long and rich history.

For many years ASC, and similar non-profits supporting the HIV/AIDS community, relied heavily on Federal monies. In 2012, the government’s funding model changed, requiring ASC to provide medical care to its clients rather than through a third party. In an effort to make certain there was no interruption in care, ASC delegated its federally contracted programs to the Pasadena Public Health Department to deliver these medical services.

This necessary transition of medical care to an outside organization reduced ASC’s overhead yet also eliminated a primary source of funding. The organization has not been able to replace that funding despite the generous support of many individuals and companies in the local community. ASC’s cessation of operations also means that “Big Night Out,” the organization’s annual gala fundraiser normally scheduled for the beginning of May, will not be held but may continue in support of another nonprofit organization.

Additional information will follow when details for this event are finalized.

“We thank everyone who has sustained our efforts over the past 28 years to educate the public about HIV/AIDS; support those with HIV/AIDS; and to remove the stigma associated with this disease,” said Andrea Vining, chair of ASC’s board of directors. “We ask supporters to continue this effort because, despite advances in drug therapies that have extended the lives of those with HIV/AIDS, there are still more than 1.2 million people in the United States living with HIV, and almost 1 in 7 or 14 percent of them are unaware of their infection. With or without an ASC, the fight against HIV/AIDS must continue.”