HAA Condom Distribution Plan Relies Heavily on Volunteers

The city of DC began to make good on it's goal of distributing a million condoms in the District of Columbia on Friday. The Washington Post reports that 250,000 have been 'deployed' across the city. But what exactly does 'deployment' mean?

Well, almost half of these condoms, 120,000 to be exact, went to Lifeguard DC, an entirely volunteer effort to distribute condoms where they are needed across the city. This number of condoms is approximately seventeen times the total number of condoms LifeGuard DC has given away since the organization came into existence. I greatly admire the hardwork of Lifeguard DC, but I can't help but wonder if this volunteer effort will be able to distribute all these condoms before they expire. And while I applaud the DOH moving forward on this initiative, but I'm suprised to see a well funded city agency relying on a small group of volunteers to do the bulk of the work.

Where did the other condoms go? District agencies including the HIV/AIDS Administration, have 27,300. And the rest are were given to local HIV/AIDS and commnity health organizations:

* 25,000 to Whiltman Walker Clinic
* 11,000 to the Community Education Group
* 11,000 to Us Helping Us
* 10,000 to Unity Health Care
* 8,000 to Georgetown Kids Mobile Unit
* 8,000 to Sasha Bruce Youthwork
* 6,000 to Family Connection/Children's Hospital
* 5,000 to DOH Addiction Prevention & Recovery Administration
* 3,500 to Howard University Student Health Services
* 3,000 to Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive
* 2,500 to Family & Medical Counseling
* 2,000 to Efforts (ex-cons outreach)
* 2,000 to Metro Teen AIDS
* 1,500 to Abundant Life
* 1,500 to Different Avenues
* 1,500 to So Others Might Eat (SOME)
* 1,000 to Our Place
* 200 to Rock Creek Academy

It's a good start. What matters most, however, is geting the condoms in the hands of the folks who need them.