SoSH AIDS Fighting Truck: We Did Good.

[jose melendez]

As many of you will recall, in 2013 SoSH raised a remarkable $45,000 to buy a truck for a small NGO based in Arusha, Tanzania called Support for International Change.

Here is a picture of our truck

It is a fantastic organization that I have been proud to support (we asked for donations to it for our wedding lieu of gifts) and for which my wife served as Chair of the Board for a number of years (for the record, she drew no salary as Chair). Unfortunately, as we have learned from the career of Pedro Martinez, all good things do come to an end, and sadly, this is as true for SIC as it is for Pedro's career. One can only hope that, like Pedro, one can achieve one's goals before that day comes. Thankfully, this is as true for SIC as it was for Pedro. Below is a letter from SIC explaining what the truck accomplished and what will happen as SIC transitions.

I want to thank Nip for lending this board to this fundraiser in the darkest days of the Bobby V era and to this community for its amazing generosity. I'm not sure I've done anything else in life that filled me with as much pride and delight as this project. We did an enormous amount of good.


Letter from SIC

Hello SOSH,

Greetings from Arusha, Tanzania! We are writing to share some updates about the truck you donated for our work supporting communities in northern Tanzania. Having the truck has been an incredible game-changer for us. Whereas with our old vehicles we were always at risk that we would suffer a breakdown on the way to the office, the SOSH truck (Soshi as our staff affectionately call it) has been incredibly reliable, only requiring routine maintenance and minor repairs along the way.

This reliability has been crucial for us. All of our work has relied on our ability to reach people where they are, on a schedule that is predictable. When our community volunteers arranged a testing, our counseling team was there as expected. And when it was time for a monthly check up and prescription refill, our clinical team was there as expected. Since the SOSH truck arrived in January 2013, we have provided HIV testing to 80,000 people and have supported 12 community-based HIV treatment clinics, reaching over 1200 people with HIV. All while spreading the glory of some of the great moments in Red Sox history.

We are incredibly proud of these achievements and have seen their impact in our communities. We can't thank you enough for helping to make them happen. And we need to share with you some news about what's next for SIC.

When we started working in northern Tanzania in 2004, there was no word for HIV in the local language, few people had ever tested for HIV, and for those who were positive, there was no treatment available to save their lives. Since then, the situation has changed dramatically, with widespread knowledge about HIV, routine HIV testing widely available, and treatment decentralizing to even remote health centers. Last year, we took a close look at the need for our services, and we made the considered decision to transition our remaining activities to the government and to local partners. It's not that the fight against HIV here is over, it's just that we think other institutions are strong enough to carry it forward, even after SIC.

We have developed a plan to make sure that we are handing everything over in the best way possible. As part of our transition plan, we sold Soshi locally and used the proceeds to implement our transition activities in the community. We have removed the SoSH the identifying information, since it may be put to use for commercial purposes, and to avoid confusion about SIC still being open.

Thank you again for your support!

 

[AlNipper49]

Easily one of our top moments as a internet community. So awesome!

 

[Orange Julia]

We need a SoSH resume of all the good work we do.

 

[amlothi]

This is such a tremendous story. Jose, thank you for sharing.

We need a SoSH resume of all the good work we do.

I would love to see this. I have a strong personal connection to the Jimmy Fund and would be very curious to know if anyone ever did an estimate of how much total money was donated either directly or indirectly due to the existence of SOSH.

Not wanting to go too far off topic, let me just say I've always been impressed by the efforts of SOSH to support worthy causes. There are a large number of very good people in this community. There's a lot more here than just sports and message-boarding; a lot of kind hearts and generosity. You should all be proud to be a part of something like this.

You've finally pushed me to pay something for my time here. I know it's not much, but I trust it will be put to good use.

 

[AlNipper49]

This is such a tremendous story. Jose, thank you for sharing.



I would love to see this. I have a strong personal connection to the Jimmy Fund and would be very curious to know if anyone ever did an estimate of how much total money was donated either directly or indirectly due to the existence of SOSH.

Not wanting to go too far off topic, let me just say I've always been impressed by the efforts of SOSH to support worthy causes. There are a large number of very good people in this community. There's a lot more here than just sports and message-boarding; a lot of kind hearts and generosity. You should all be proud to be a part of something like this.

You've finally pushed me to pay something for my time here. I know it's not much, but I trust it will be put to good use.

I'm pretty sure we were close to a million. If you count indirect then we were definitely over.

 

[TheYaz67]

We have removed the SoSH the identifying information, since it may be put to use for commercial purposes, and to avoid confusion about SIC still being open.

That's a good thing - we wouldn't want to end up like the poor dude from Texas who owns Mark-1 Plumbing, who saw his old truck end up on TV in Syria fighting with ISIS....

 

[SoxVindaloo]

What an amazing story Jose! The work that SIC has done has clearly impacted the landscape in Tanzania for the better, hopefully permanently. Those making decisions for SIC are to be hugely commended for their foresight and lack of ego.

 

[Valek123]

Phenomenal work, amazing that a Redsox fan community can truly impact the lives of thousands of people half a world away. Congrats to all that made this happen, this falls in the first few chapters of amazing accomplishments this group has done.

 

[Section15Box113]

Thanks again, Jose, for bringing them the Keys to Battling HIV.

Amazing.

 

[bakahump]

Not bad for a bunch of guys who have spent way more time then they should have talking about Cabin Mirrors.

 

[dbn]

One fast-clap for our community, one slow clap for Jose.