As medical costs continue to rise, one organization is promising to help those affected with AIDS get the best care that money can buy. Started in 1987, AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s mission is provide the latest and most effective care to everyone. "Access to healthcare is a human right and should not be determined by a person’s income. AIDS Healthcare Foundation offers its services regardless of a person’s ability to pay."
However, the cost of providing such services doesn’t diminish simply because good intentions back the project. As a way to subsidize costs, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation created the Out of the Closet Thrift Stores. With the slogan "Give it up! If you can’t use it, we can," the stores take all sorts of tax-deductible donated items and then sells them to the public. It began in 1990 with one store and has grown to sixteen throughout Southern California. Each year the stores receive about 30,000 donations and almost a million shoppers making it the "nation’s largest AIDS-related retail fundraiser."
Not only have individuals donated numerous items to the store, Hollywood has also taken the opportunity to get involved with the organization in its backyard. When the Aaron Spelling show Pacific Palisades was canceled, they donated over $100,000 worth of items from the set including furniture and clothing. Movies such as Selena and Mars Attacks, along with TV show Grace Under Fire, have also donated from their sets. And mega-celebrities Elizabeth Taylor and Carol Burnett have given the organization things from their very own homes and closets.
In addition to the sales, four of the thrift stores offer free, anonymous HIV testing and counseling on the premises. Along with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s TREATMENT = LIFE program, patrons of the store may also check their HIV status with a quick oral test. The organization believes that taking testing outside of a clinic setting removes the stigma attached to clinics and therefore makes the decision to get tested easier.
TREATMENT = LIFE is a program that is used to promote AIDS prevention. Built on the philosophy that "the single most effective means of winning the war against AIDS is to prevent HIV transmission at the very onset." By targeting "at risk" populations, the program brings the information and education to arm them against infection.
Only a few years ago the AIDS Healthcare Foundation consisted of three hospices and four clinics. But because of their work in not only prevention but also treatment, they now have eight clinics and only one hospice. Hopefully in the not too distant future, there will be no need for a hospice at all. 
