10/31/2025
Celebrating 40 Years of APO!
Forty-four years ago, on June 5, 1981, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the CDC described a rare lung infection among a small group of gay men in Los Angeles. That brief article marked the first official report of what the world would come to know as AIDS.
Forty-two years ago, in a small Springfield, Missouri church, a few compassionate people gathered to ask one simple question: What can we do to help? Their answer was action. They began collecting resources, offering emotional and practical support for those returning home to die. From that humble beginning, AIDS Project of Springfield was born.
Then, on October 30, 1985, AIDS Project of the Ozark was officially formed. Those early days were filled with heartbreak. Multiple funerals a day. Support groups formed out of grief. Friends comforting friends as they waited for their own diagnosis to become a death sentence. Fear and stigma cast long shadows—but even then, love found a way.
Through the decades, APO became more than an organization—it became a sanctuary. A place where compassion replaced condemnation, where fear met understanding, and where love became the loudest voice in the room.
Today, forty years later, much has changed—and yet, our mission has not. Deaths are down. Diagnoses are down. But the calling remains the same: to show up, every single day, for those who need care, support, and dignity.
From the earliest volunteers who sat beside hospital beds, to the dedicated team we have now who provide comprehensive health services across southwest Missouri, APO has always been a place of solace, strength, and unconditional love.
We’ve walked with people through their darkest nights and stood beside them in their brightest dawns. We’ve watched fear give way to hope, and hopelessness give way to healing.
So today, we celebrate.
We celebrate the lives saved, the lives honored, and the lives yet to be touched.
We celebrate the staff, volunteers, board members, donors, and clients who make this mission possible.
And above all, we celebrate the journey—one built on courage, compassion, and the belief that health care is a human right.
Because as long as there is a need, APO will be here—offering hope, healing, and humanity, one person at a time.
