AIDS: Recognition for L.A. Shanti Organization

I was so happy to see the article about L.A. Shanti in your Westside Section (“AIDS Patients Learn Hope Is a Key to Handling Virus,” Jan. 19). I have enjoyed a close association with that organization for the past five years. I have assisted in each of Shanti’s programs from both the Women’s Plus and Co-Ed Plus to fund-raising events. I facilitated a support group for “significant others” for two years and before that I had two one-on-one clients. Though my own HIV status is negative, I have gained so much from my involvement with this organization that I truly feel I owe them my life.

My involvement with Shanti has provided me with tremendous opportunities for personal growth. After assisting with a number of their fund-raising events, I have since embarked on a career as an event coordinator and I have finally focused upon my desire to become a writer. The training program for emotional-support volunteers was like nothing I had ever encountered. It is akin to experiencing 40 hours of EST, John Bradshaw, Sufism and a 12-step convention all in two intense, uplifting weekends. They teach you that, to give the type of non-judgmental, compassionate support Shanti is all about, you first have to know yourself. And that to be able to put aside your own agendas for another human being, you first have to discover and define them.

This organization has benefited our community so much and in so many ways, I am glad to see them getting some recognition in our city’s press.

PAMELA S. WEGNER, West Hollywood