AIDS AWARENESS; FOUNDATION SPREADING KNOWLEDGE, AID IN A.V.

Byline: Romy Jacobson Daily News Staff Writer

To the leaders and volunteers at the Catalyst Foundation, education is the key to combating AIDS.

``Ignorance and silence spells death, pure and simple. Withholding information doesn't solve anything,'' said foundation president Ronald Sparks, pastor of the United Church of Christ in California City, who became involved with AIDS awareness while working as a Salvation Army officer in New York City in 1981-82.

``This is a human virus. It has nothing to do with sin. It's a blood disease, not a sin disease.''

Marking World AIDS Day, held annually Dec. 1 since the early 1980s to bring attention to the disease, the Catalyst Foundation staged at its Elm Street office an open house to provide education for the public, especially teen-agers and young adults.

Signature sheets - sheets that have messages written by people with HIV or AIDS, and by friends and relatives of victims - were displayed.

A solemn candlelight vigil was held to honor the memories of loved ones who died from AIDS.

``It's to bring public attention to the whole issue of AIDS,'' said Catalyst Foundation founder Dr. Susan Lawrence. ``It's a human problem that everybody needs to be concerned about.''

The nonprofit foundation was started in 1992 by Lawrence and her husband, Sonny Bartz, who died from AIDS in July 1993 a few years after shedding an intravenous drug habit.

The center provides medical care and supportive social services for people with HIV or full-blown AIDS and their families. Currently, it is helping 125 people.

Lawrence said living with AIDS can be especially difficult in the Antelope Valley.

Two Antelope Valley physical therapists refused to give her husband treatment in 1992 because they were afraid of catching AIDS through his perspiration, according to Lawrence. Lawrence was also denied life insurance due to her husband's condition.

``People tend to be more conservative here or more narrow-minded,'' said Lawrence. ``The more people are judgmental to people with AIDS the more likely it is that people with AIDS won't be treated in a respectful manner.''

The foundation was banned from providing AIDS education sessions at Antelope Valley Union High School District campuses in 1996 because of their explicit nature.

``The only place in the Antelope Valley where teen-agers can get full information on AIDS in a school setting is when they're detained at Challenger (Youth Center),'' said Lawrence.

Lawrence links emotional pain from child abuse to risky behavior such as sexual promiscuity and drug abuse that can lead to exposure to HIV.

She saw the link through her husband, who she said grew up in an alcoholic and violent family. Subjected to physical and emotional abuse, he sought refuge in drugs, violence and gangs.

``He felt that it was important for people to understand what we both came to know prior to his death - that unresolved emotional pain from childhood abuse, trauma and neglect can directly lead to behaviors which place people at risk for HIV,'' Lawrence said.

In conjunction with High Desert Hospital, the Catalyst Foundation provides grants to help AIDS patients find housing.

Foundation volunteers pick up and deliver food for 40 clients through the AIDS project Los Angeles Necessities of Life Program.

The foundation also provides free anonymous HIV testing for people under 21. The cost is $50 for adults 21 and over.

To reach the Catalyst Foundation, call [phone].

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Photo

Photo: (Color) Susan Lawrence and Ronald Sparks display the Catalyst Foundation's signature sheet in support of AIDS Awareness Day.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News