Page 18 - Knighted_2018

Moving to Ingleside
Fambro’s work with CCAN would be tireless, “writing grants to financially assist people

who were living with AIDS to be able to pay for their housing and utility, because often they had
to make a decision if their money is going to go to their house or to their medical bills.” Fambro
and CCAN offered temporary housing for the people who were both HIV-positive and homeless,
often because they were disowned by family or evicted by landlords.42 Temporary housing
ranged from regional homeless shelters, group homes sometimes long distances away from the
Medical Center in Macon (one of the only health institutions in the state offering HIV/AIDS
treatments), to Fambro’s own home when he had space.43 Many of the board members of CCAN
wanted to open a group home in Macon so that people could stay in the city if they chose and
receive HIV/AIDS treatments at the Medical Center. Efforts to move the location of the center
would take considerable fundraising and grant applications. By 1991, the Rainbow Center was
noted as a beneficial service to the community and would go on to receive local monetary
support.44 Rainbow Center received a grant from the Peyton Anderson Foundation, a private
foundation that distributed funds to community entities that benefited the Central Georgia area.
The foundation helped to purchase and remodel the center at 1990 Riverside Drive.45

The transitional housing program was a success. Infectious disease professionals like Dr.
Katner and Dr. Stephens recommended patients for the services. Dr. Stephens related a story of a
woman who was diagnosed as HIV-positive: “She was a mother of two small children. She had

42 "The Johnny Fambro Story," interview by author, November 2017. (Michael-Angel León)
43 "A Friend’s House can be our Symbol of caring," Telegraph (Macon), January 18, 1996, 10.
http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/0EB76D2336D4EED4?p=AWNB.
44 "Middle Georgia resource compassion fuels comprehension services at Central City AIDS Network," HIV Risk Reduction 9
(2009): 1-4, https://www.pdffiller.com/en/project/147277139.htm?f_hash=e04b5c&reload=true.
45 "The Johnny Fambro Story," interview by author, November 2017. (Michael-Angel León)

13