San Antonio AIDS Foundation

In 2025 alone, we served 1,811 individuals across every corner of our community—because HIV and sexual health don't exist in isolation. We provided medical case management for 210 clients navigating complex care, and non-medical case management for 184 more who needed help with the basics that keep treatment on track. We served 29,265 hot meals to 227 clients, because you can't fight a virus on an empty stomach. We kept a roof over heads with 1,907 months of rental assistance for 83 families, and ensured 220 clients could get to their appointments through medical transportation. Mental health counseling, oral health services, emergency financial assistance, and pharmaceutical support—we met people where they were, with what they needed.

But we don't just respond. We prevent.

Last year, our team delivered 310 prevention education presentations reaching 7,557 people with the knowledge to protect themselves and their partners. We conducted 3,219 HIV tests and connected newly diagnosed individuals to care immediately. We screened for syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and Hepatitis C—identifying hundreds of infections that might otherwise have gone untreated, including 31 new HIV diagnoses that are now in treatment, not crisis.With the Elton John AIDS Foundation's support, San Antonio AIDS Foundation (SAAF, /sāf/) and Corazon Ministries Inc have built a partnership to bring HIV services directly into the community.Our mission is simple but urgent: to reduce new HIV and sexually transmitted infections by providing equitable access to education, prevention, and sexual healthcare—and to improve the health and quality of life of every person living with HIV or AIDS.

In 1986, when fear and silence surrounded the HIV/AIDS epidemic, one man refused to look away. Robert Edwards—known to everyone as Papa Bear—opened the doors of SAAF House, a volunteer-run hospice where no one had to face their darkest days alone. For nearly 30 years, that house stood as a beacon of dignity, compassion, and unconditional care in San Antonio.

Today, the San Antonio AIDS Foundation carries that same spirit forward—but we no longer wait for the crisis to arrive at our door.

What began as a refuge for the dying has evolved into a lifeline for the living. We envision a San Antonio where every person with HIV thrives free from stigma and discrimination, and where positive sexual health is not a privilege, but a reality for all. That vision drives everything we do.

Papa Bear built this foundation on the radical idea that every person deserves care, respect, and a future. Nearly four decades later, that promise still stands. But we can't do it without you.

Join us. Help us turn stigma into support, diagnosis into treatment, and fear into hope. Because when we invest in sexual health and HIV care, we don't just change statistics—we change lives.