Through an association with St. Elizabeth's Hospital in New Jersey, the Zealands and some close friends acquired the use of a freestanding home and proceeded to renovate it. On May 17, 1987 Terry and Faye Zealand, opened the doors to "St. Clare's," the first transitional home for children with AIDS in the country. The idea for the organization was, and is to this day, to provide children who have been touched by the AIDS epidemic with a safe home environment, where they can receive the love and stimulation that is vital for their normal development while awaiting placement into a permanent home. Before St. Clare's opened their doors children with HIV and AIDS were forced to stay in cold hospital rooms or institutions, and although the staffs of those institutions did their best to make sure the basic needs of those children were met, they were spread too thin to give the children the individual attention they needed.

Taking only five children at a time, the St. Clare home was constantly filled. As soon as one child would leave there would be ten more waiting to take its place. Eventually the State Child Welfare agency asked that a second home be opened, which the Zealands proceeded to do. Ultimately there would be three separate homes opened in different parts of New Jersey. Many of the kids come to St. Clare's developmentally delayed, but thanks to the many volunteers they begin to show almost immediate improvement. "Many of the kids do extremely well." Says Dr. Zealand, "They start to gain weight, and through stimulation and being held and begin able to walk and play in the back yard they start to reach their developmental milestones in which they were lagging behind. So we've seen great progress with many of our kids, in a homelike setting. Which is what they needed."

Today, fifteen years after the decision to help children with AIDS was made. The Resource Foundation for Children has grown to include care for medically fragile children as well as children suffering from AIDS. "New Jersey Child Welfare Agency has many kids boarding in New Jersey Hospitals. So we were having very good success with the HIV children and Division of Youth and Family services (BYFS) determined we would also be successful with other kids who where hard to place because of their medical conditions." They also help families suffering from AIDS in finding housing and have to date been responsible for the renovation of several houses, comprising 40 units of single and two family homes for families living with HIV and AIDS. They also provide support and counseling services, summer and winter camps, and teen educational programs geared toward living with, and stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Even though the AIDS Resource Foundation for Children has been immensely successesful in the care and treatment of children with HIV/AIDS and other medically challenging conditions, it must constantly struggle to maintain its high standards of care. "Money is always an issue," Says Dr. Zealand, "as are volunteers. We can always use more volunteers." Just recently the boiler in one of the children's home has broken down and will need to be replaced before the winter season takes hold. The probable cost of replacing the old boiler will be somewhere between six to seven thousand dollars. "That's just one of those things you never put in the budget, one of those unexpected expenses."

Despite the fact that Dr. Zealand has spent the past fifteen years dealing with medically fragile, and in many cases dying, children he has never regretted his time with the Foundation. In fact, he feels that working with these special kids and their families has given him a unique view of life. "Many of these children develop a deep spiritual reality that we, healthy people, tend to ignore. We tend to take life for granted. So what I have stolen from them, hopefully, is a deeper appreciation of life. You can learn some real life lessons that can help carry you through from this terrible disease, and hopefully pass on to others."