Bobby’s legacy
The face of HIV may have changed over the past 25 years, but for the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation the approach to helping people has remained the same -” keep it practical.
Started in 1984 by a group of friends with the very straightforward intention of helping a friend in need -” Bobby Goldsmith, the first known Australian to die from an AIDS-related illness -” the now multimillion-dollar organisation maintains the same pragmatic yet personal approach.
In the ’80s when HIV was at its most devastating, BGF focused on providing the essentials needed to make people’s last days more comfortable. In the ’90s that focus shifted to providing long-term housing and advocating for understanding from the wider community.
And now, as the organisation moves into its second quarter of a century the message from current CEO Bev Lange remains simple and to the point -” there are more people living with HIV now than ever before and they need your help.
Our 25th anniversary is an opportunity for us to talk about and honour not just the people who aren’t with us any longer, but about the people who are and who have a life to live, Lange told Sydney Star Observer.
This year is an opportunity for us to talk to more people about HIV and make them understand that even very small amounts of support can make a substantial difference.
Former CEO Levinia Crooks, who presided over BGF from 1998 to 2004, spoke similarly of how the approach taken during her time with the organisation had maintained a sharp focus to avoid being overwhelmed by the gargantuan nature of the task at hand.
Introduced to the organisation in 1985 she recalled how, at the time there was this dearth of services for people so BGF, to me, seemed incredibly beneficial and incredibly well-targeted in terms of the assistance it provided.
BGF provided things like ripple mattresses to stop people from getting bed sores, walking frames, things you could get from hospitals and other things you couldn’t get without paying for them or going on a waiting list, she said.
Just as importantly, the organisation provided an understanding that remained lacking in the wider community.
BGF gave people a level of dignity in approaching a service to get support. It’s one thing to say -˜I’ve got no money and I need some help’, it’s another thing to say -˜my money’s run out, I need some help’ and to then have them ask -˜what’s wrong with you?’ And have people jump on the other side of the counter because you say you’ve got HIV, Crooks said.
That complete fear of exposure and rejection was, for many people, huge. Especially when you’re thinking of people, many of whom had previously been out there earning and participating in the community and then suddenly didn’t have anything -” that sort of step for some people just wasn’t possible when they knew they were going to be humiliated by an agency they were seeking help from. Then there was BGF where that absolutely didn’t happen.
Initially only available to people in the Sydney area, BGF’s assistance now stretches across NSW as it strives to ensure its brand of judgement-free help is available to the people who need it most -” regardless of postcode.
I think we’re more accessible and equitable now than when we started, Lange said.
We work very hard to be an organisation that, if we provide assistance in one place, we want to provide it in another. I’m not sure if we’d ever move into national, but we’ve received feedback saying that the type of services BGF provides would be of interest in other states and we will consider that over time.
But I think that the board’s and my view has always been that we better make sure that we do things right in NSW first.
Money, of course, is the big requirement and Lange said fundraising is increasingly one of the organisation’s biggest challenges.
I think HIV has been off the air for many people for a long, long time, she said.
Fundraising is increasingly difficult for HIV organisations in spite of higher numbers of people living with HIV than at any other time in history.
The rise in the number of people living with HIV marks the successes of HIV medicine, but it creates a new set of challenges as support services look for ways to care for an ageing population.
I believe our role for the future is maintaining financial assistance -” particularly in the areas of helping people manage their health and wellbeing and supporting people to make decisions in their lives so whether that’s about returning to work or study, or just about gaining a greater level of control over their financial circumstances, Lange said.
BGF has taken an approach of self-reliance since the ’90s in order to maintain its relevance and currency.
It was one of the first Australian organisations to offer clients interest-free loans and now creates vocational programs, like the Phoenix program and Positive Futures, to help people with HIV re-enter the work force.
David Polson, an ex-client turned volunteer, says it’s an approach which works and provides something much more important than money.
From my perspective as a client I see the services remain the same, but they’re being developed to be about helping us to help ourselves, he said.
It’s about developing us as people. With medications being so good these days, more people are getting their lives back and from what I can see, BGF is helping people to get their lives back, which has wide benefits for both the people they help and the community which gets people back in an active manner.
info: For more information on Bobby Goldsmith’s services go to www.bgf.org.au. Tickets for the Mardi Gras Glamstand are available through Ticketmaster: www.ticketmaster.com.au or phone 136 100.
Hello,
Please send a copy of this to the BGF directors.
My name is Michael. I just wanted to ask you something about Bobby Goldsmith. The foundation webpage under “Who is Bobby Goldsmith” says that he was diagnosed as HIV in 1983, and died of “AIDS related complications in 1984.
Could you please explain to me how he was diagnosed as HIV in 1983? I mean, after all, HIV was not even discovered until April 20th of 1984, shortly before Bobby passed in June.
There were no tests even available in hospitals until late 1985, quite a while after Bobby died. It was not until March of 85 before the Australia blood supply was screened, and it was many months after that before doctors and hospitals had any HIV tests even available to them.
And when saying that Bobby died of Aids related complications, just what does that mean? What was the exact cause of death?
And did HIV actually kill Bobby, or did he simply make himself sick from the stress of being labeled as having AIDS? And did his doctors by any chance contribute to his death by overloading him with any type of medications?
Please explain, because much of what is claimed about HIV and AIDS makes no sense to me and many others in the gay community at all. After all, the years of skyrocketing deaths in the US and Australia were the exact years 1987 to 1995 when high dosage AZT was given to every single HIV positive. Those who took it, lived an average of 8 months to 1-1/2 years on it. Death rates did not come down to todays levels until the medications became less toxic.
Furthermore, it has been well proven that chronic stress, such as due to our inborn Fight or Flight mechanism, is well proven to cause suppression of the Thymus Gland resulting in a suppressed immune system, and suppressed T-cell count.
I’ll bet you did not even know that the T in T cells stands for THYMUS. And I’ll bet you did not know that chronic stress alone is well proven to suppress it.
So what really made Bobby Smith ill? Did HIV (that he may or may not have even had) have anything to do with it, or did he simply scare himself to death after he was given the deadly diagnosis?
Truth, please,
Anthony you have erred because you do not know about gay history.
BGF was a dream orchestrated by Bobby himself.
It was his passion,commitment and dream to set up this organisation to help those doing it tough because of HIV Aids.
He may also have been a recipient to his own organisation.
You say let BGF have plenty of accolades on this milestone anniversary.
Sure BGF have carried this important work onwards over the years but it is the people in the homosexuality community’s past like Bobby Goldsmith & CA King that I really believe deserve this recognition.
Ms king & Mr Goldsmith did their work because of a commitment for community.
Those at BGF are now payed a salary.
If you took away their salary would they still be committed as Ms King or Mr Goldsmith ?
That is the “burning question”.
I gave my !0k damages money from my litigation against Radio 2UE & Mr Laws to BGF because of my love and respect for Ms King and her work of feeding the hungry.
Editor’s Note: As outlined at last night’s 25th anniversary function. BGF was set up by Bobby’s friends. See below.
Bobby Goldsmith was one of the first Australians to die from an AIDS-related illness in 1984. When he became ill, his friends got together to find a way of giving him the love and care he needed at home. They raised money and bought equipment to make his last weeks as comfortable as possible. By the time he passed away, Bobby and his friends had established the important principle of providing support and services to people living with HIV.
The foundation itself grew out of a fundraising event on 13 May 1984 which was organised by Bobby Goldsmith’s friends to raise money for his care. The event was successful beyond all expectations, raising far more than was required for Bobby’s own needs. The organisers decided to continue the group’s work to assist other people with HIV and the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation was established in July 1984, barely one month after Bobby’s death.
Giving much needed money to the “Bobby Goldsmith Foundations” Is an absolute must,I donate every year and especially at Fairday.
But could the volunteers with the buckets at Fairday fess up to their scheme please.
Once you donated they place a Bright sticker on you,so as you continue on the track towards the fair another collector about 100m from the last volunteer spots this sticker and does not harass you.
I removed my sticker but still got pestered by volunteers,and I had to tell each of them Ive donated already.Maybe they could think of a better approach when they have their training seminars pre-hand,thanks.
Congratulations to BGF, on its work in caring for our community, and adapting to the change of the epidemic over the past 25 years.
Perhaps we should just let BGF have the focus on their significant anniversary!
And for the record, my understanding is that it was Bobby’s friends who started BGF, not Bobby himself. Bobby was the first recipient (of thousands) of the compassion and understanding which is central to the organisation’s work.
BGF and welfare commitment are synonomous with good client outcomes in the years I have been familiar with the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation.
Bobby Goldsmith believed community meant looking after each other.
Our 21st century Bobby Goldsmith is a grand and kind lady called Carole Ann King.
Ms King carried on his work in another way by helping the hungry.
After all we all picked up the same habit as a child,
“It is simply called eating”.
It is these kinds of selfless acts of compassion shown by people like Ms King & Mr Goldsmith that makes me feel proud because there is a community of people out there prepared to help others without payment and without being driven by a selfish philosophy of “what’s in it for me.These people do this work without seeking accolades to feed their ego driven mania.
I recall an incident where I overheard a conversation between a person of privilege who said to a tenant living in public housing,
“You’re only a public housing tenant”.
I interrupted and said,
“You are both equal because you both came into this world getting your bum slapped.You will both go out of this world in the same way,in a coffin.
Your Mercedes car will not fit in your coffin or be of any consequence to you”.
My point is simple, it is not what you have materially in your life it is how you help and treat the down trodden folk that is really important in the end.
The reality is either you have compassion for people doing it tough or you don’t.
It’s not as if you could just rush out and buy a-bit of compassion at Myers !
Please consider…