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lost everything and had nowhere to go, so I directed her to the center to get back on her feet.” 46
The location on Riverside Drive was only the beginning of local HIV/AIDS support in Macon as
more people diagnosed with the virus needed the services of CCAN and there was not enough
space for them. “‘Macon is still sending its people away to die,’ claimed Sam Johnson, executive
director of Friendship Ministries Inc., in a 1996 Macon Telegraph article, referencing to the lack
of space for HIV positive people in transitional housing in Macon.” Friendship Ministries Inc.
was similar to the Rainbow Center's transitional housing program. Both transitional housing
programs wanted to acquire more housing to assist more diagnosed patients, so Friendship
Ministries acquired “A Friend's House” transitional housing program which would fulfill those
needs. 47

Funding for the A Friend's House project would not be easy but it would be attainable.
Zoning for the project, however, proved problematic. A Friend's House would be located on a
main street property, offering seven bedrooms to people with the virus who were homeless. At
this time, HIV and AIDS still inspired more fear than compassion at all levels of society and
many citizens of Macon, including the Zoning Director of Macon, Jim Thomas, who opposed the
plan on the grounds that it could cause an AIDS refugee issue. But Fambro endorsed Johnson’s
plan, stating, “There's an attitude that [A Friend's House] is not needed. That if we provide that
service we're going to attract that undesirable element here.” But, he noted, “Those people are
coming here anyway. After a while, those people are going to be us.” The plans for the A

46 "The Johnny Fambro Story," interview by author December 1, 2017. (Dr. Jeffrey Stephens)
47 Audrey Y. Williams. "A Refuge in life, or death a friend’s house envisioned to provide shelter for HIV-Positive People,"
Telegraph (Macon), January 15, 1996, http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/0EB76D22B57BE8E8?p=AWNB.

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