I’ve been stopping off at Smart & Final quite a bit in the past few days. I’m not opening a restaurant, so vats of cooking oil may appear to be an odd purchase. And I’m not planning a water drinking party, so filling my cart with flats of bottled water and multiple packages of toilet paper and paper towels may seem a bit bizarre.

In reality, my multiple rounds of in-bulk buys are because of one man: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

You see, a little over a month ago, everyone’s favorite Terminator utilized his line-item veto power to slash $52 million from state AIDS funding just one week after the California Legislature made its own $30 million in cuts. In seven days, a total of $82 million was eliminated from core HIV services.

Although times are lean and companies across the country are making difficult decisions to lay off employees, cut hours, and eliminate services, the governor’s actions hurt some of the most vulnerable people in our state—the homeless, the mentally ill, field workers, monolingual Spanish-speakers, and economically disadvantaged families and children.

When I spoke with a distraught and reeling David Selberg, Pacific Pride Foundation’s (PPF) executive director, a few days after Schwarzenegger’s veto, he expressed concerns about the individuals his organization assists on a regular basis. But he was also vague, saying he was not aware of the extent to which his staff, offices, and services would be impacted. PPF may be known simply as the county’s gay and lesbian resource center and HIV/AIDS services center, but it’s also the largest provider of such services between L.A. and San Francisco, meaning Selberg has since been working tirelessly to secure some modicum of funding from a variety of sources.

The intervening month has seen a sharp change in tone; anger and frustration have replaced shock, and Selberg is no longer vague but very blunt and specific about what his nonprofit needs. At a town hall meeting last Wednesday, Selberg reported that the combined cuts made for a loss of more than $600,000 to PPF’s HIV/AIDS services, 65 percent of its budget for that work. And, although the cuts came at the end of July, they were effective the first of that month, meaning PPF immediately had to lay off 11 employees in order to not go bankrupt. In addition, the budget for the food pantry was reduced by half, and PPF’s offices need to be downsized drastically.

Feeling enraged, helpless? Yeah, me too. Fortunately, there are some very simple ways everyone can help. The first of these is to go to PPF’s Web site (pacificpridefoundation.org) and sign up to connect your Ralphs or Vons grocery-store club card to the nonprofit. Every time you use your club card, the stores donate a portion of your total bill to PPF; since it’s free to sign up for the club cards, this method of getting PPF more funding won’t cost you a dime. Next, the food pantry’s supplies are running out—fast. There’s a shopping list of needed goods at PPF’s Santa Barbara offices (126 E. Haley St.) and on its site, so next time you are at the store, pick up something that’s on the list and donate it to the pantry. (Hence my bulk purchases at Smart & Final.)

The county’s Board of Supervisors, although facing its own budget shortfalls, needs to know we will not stand idly by in such a crisis situation, so tell the board that portions of the General Fund should continue to be used for HIV services. A standardized letter in support of this is available at PPF’s office and Web site.

Last, but certainly not least, is the AIDS Walk on October 3. This needs to be a hugely successful event, which means everyone must be diligent in his or her fundraising efforts. As an added incentive, Santa Barbaran Kevin Harder, a longtime supporter of PPF, has generously offered to match $100,000 of contributions made by October 3. And, at the town hall meeting, Cox Communications’ David Edelman promised $5,000 from his company if PPF can match that amount by the end of October with new donor contributions.

It’s time to do your part by pledging to donate your time and money to help PPF.

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