Daily Gazette
March 17, 2010
Man's estate gives center a home
BY KATHLEEN MOORE
Gazette Reporter
Fifteen years ago, a volunteer for the Damien Center offered a truly remarkable gift: he would move out of his home and give it to the center so that it would have a permanent
location.
But the center, which provides support to HIV and AIDS patients and their families, needed to be centrally located Volunteer Jordan Hess lived in an out-of-the-way part of Mont Pleasant.
So his offer was declined. But Hess was undeterred. If they didn't want his house, he said, he would give the Damien Center everything he had when he died Perhaps that would be
enough for the center to buy a house in the center of the city.
A permanent home was desperately needed. The center moved regularly - three times in one year alone. It bounced from Hamilton Hill to the Stockade, from disused offices to a 
church basement, never in the same place twice. Clients lost count of how often they had to memorize a new address.
'We don't come every week, so we'd forget - what church were they at? How do we get there?" said Bob Wall.
His partner, Doug Klein; added, 'We had to chase them down.
"But no one really thought Hess would be the answer. Although he was a dedicated volunteer, he was a disabled veteran who lived almost his entire life on meager military benefits.
So when Hess died and Schenectady Inner City Ministry Executive Director Phil Grigsby got the call, he did not expect to hear that Hess had left $100,000 for the Damien Center, which is supported by SICM.
But then again, Grigsby said light -heartedly, Hess rarely did the expected.
"Once you got to know Jordan, nothing surprises you," Grigsby said.
After paying for Hess' funeral and other arrangements, SICM had $90,000 left to make his dream come true. That wasn't quite enough to pay for everything needed to give the Da- mien Center a permanent home, but SICM could swing the rest. SICM bought a house at 615 Nott St. for $97,500 last fall. The agency spent another $50,000 on renova tions. It is now seeking donations and grants to cover that cost.
On Tuesday, the center dedicated its new space and remembered Hess, a man who never had HIV but cared about the victims of that virus at a time when many others shunned
them.
Hess taught Damien Center cli ents how to advocate for themselves, passing on the hard-earned lessons from his life as a developmentally disabled adult.
"He felt his role was to teach others advocacy," Grigsby said "He had a real skill."
Hess hoped to help them address problems proactively, getting the community on their side before a crisis occurred, while also maintaining privacy and indepen
dence as much as possible.
He once summarized his life's work in one line: "I believe that the real answer is to create a society where human life is more valued than money." That was why he loved the Da-
mien Center.
"We all seek home. He was seeking a home," Grigsby said. At the Damien Center, "he felt at ahome. He felt welcome."
That welcoming environment continues today. Wall and Klein, who have been together for 28 years without passing HIV from the one partner who is positive to the one who is negative, drive from Saratoga Springs to Schenectady because they prefer this center over the ones in Troy and Albany.
"This is one of the few places we really feel welcome," Klein said. "[Program manager] Dan
[Butterworth]. is terrific. He has a glow about him that makes you want to taJk to him."
And the food is great, Wall added. He and Klein often cook meals there for the entire group. They love SICM's dedication to buying fresh food and the brand new commercial kitchen to cook it in.
"I've never cooked in a kitchen with so many sinks," Wall said."The way it's run. Good food. They're straightforward with people with AIDS. That's what makes it worth the drive."
The new facility also offers space that the center has not had for years. There's a room for children to play while their parents attend workshops. The Reiki massage table that had to be set aside in storage last year is back. There are rooms for one-on-one conseling and confidential AIDS testing.
"I'm so excited," Butterworth said. "We don't have to move again. We can plant a garden.
There's no end of possibilities."
Reach Gazette reporter
Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or
moore@dailygazette.com.
Also, video clip, channel 9:
