The Miami Herald, Inc.; Sunday, March 23, 1997
Maria Camacho; Herald Staff Writer
Vida Abundante Church, or "abundant life" in Spanish, is letting the group use its reception area to hold their monthly meetings.
Ada Arias, the support group's leader, is glad the search is finally over.
"The place is great," she said. "We love it."
The church welcomed the support group after a member heard how the women had been meeting for several months in a Hialeah home but wanted a more public place.
They gather every third Wednesday to educate the community about AIDS, support HIV-related causes and provide counseling, support and referral services.
Guest speakers also discuss topics on health issues including nutrition, alternative treatments and therapy.
Mirta Colloca, a church member, said the congregation's lives were altered by the disease about three years ago when a 14-year-old boy, who played trumpet for the church band, died of AIDS. He contracted the disease from a blood transfusion he received during a heart operation when he was 5 years old.
"Five years after the operation, the family got a call saying the blood was tainted," she said. "He went to our Christian school. My husband baptized him. We were all very fond of him."
The family has since moved to Panama. But the church remembers him with a plaque on its wall. They also dedicated their Fellowship Hall, currently under construction, to him.
"We knew what was happening and we prayed for him," she said.
But she said churches always have an obligation to help.
"A church should do it even if no one at the church has died of AIDS," she said. "It's a very serious cause. We shouldn't close our doors to it."
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