Since she was diagnosed with HIV in 2003, Carmen Mendoza has struggled to obtain her antiviral medications.

“They are free but they are not easy to obtain,” said Mendoza, who requested her real name not be used.

Mendoza, who lives in Tijuana, has to make several trips around the city to pick up all her medications, which are often unavailable.

“I have to go to different clinics in the city to get them,” she said. “Sometimes they’re out of them.”

Though the number of HIV infections in Tijuana is as high as in some major U.S. urban centers, the city is working with far fewer resources, said Kimberly Brouwer, assistant professor at the Division of International Health and Cross Cultural Medicine at the University of California, San Diego.

The tide is starting to change, though, as a growing number of organizations have emerged in Tijuana to provide more and better access to HIV/AIDS health care and medicines.

Meds4Mexico is one of those organizations. Created in 2006, Meds4Mexico collects and donates unused medications, medical supplies and other basic necessities to HIV/AIDS organizations in the Tijuana region.

“I call it friends helping friends,” said Terry Summers, Meds4Mexico founder and director. “Meds4Mexico assists other organizations in Mexico and provides them with medications and supplies that they necessarily can’t get down there [in Tijuana].

“You know we’re not just meds. We’re medical supplies, we do clothes, we take bedding, adult diapers are always a need, toys, soap, tooth brush, toothpaste, shampoo – things that we take for granted on a daily basis.”

Meds4Mexico gets its medical supplies from people who either changed their HIV medication regimen or passed away.

Obtaining her HIV medication hasn’t been Mendoza’s only problem; Two years ago, she became homeless with her 6-year-old, HIV-positive son.

“Life has been chaotic,” she said.

At the Tijuana General Hospital HIV clinic, Mendoza heard about EUNIME (named after Eunice and Naomi, the first girls diagnosed with AIDS in Tijuana in 1996), a support group and orphanage for mothers and children affected or infected by HIV, one of several organizations that Meds4Mexico donates to. Once a space became available, Mendoza and her son moved right in. They’ve been living at the orphanage for a year now.

“Terry has been wonderful with us,” said Rosalva Vasquez, executive director of EUNIME. “He’s been bringing food for the babies, lot’s of boxes of Gerber [baby food], and hygiene products, and baby products, diapers – it’s been helping us a lot.”

Meds4Mexico donates all products and supplies to EUNIME and Agencia Familiar BiNacional (AFABI), Tijuana’s first community-based HIV/AIDS clinic, started in 2005.

Since its beginning, Summers has been paying for Meds4Mexico through the commissions he receives from his travel agency, Dog Daze Travel.

With the cost of pick-up, storage, and delivery, Meds4Mexico has been costing Summers around $200-300 per month.

“Just counting the gas and storage, it adds up very quickly, and that doesn’t count the other little expenses that come up, such as phone calls and printing fliers,” he said.

EUNIME has its own financial problems as well.

“Everything is in crisis right now,” Vasquez said. “We had more support from the previous government than we do now. But now starting this year, they cut our budget. We continue to look for friends to provide us with food and help … It’s people and organizations like Meds4Mexico that allow us to continue doing our job there.”

Meds4Mexico recently applied for nonprofit status, which would allow financial donors to receive a tax deduction for their donation.

“It’s taken more time than I like,” Summers said. “I could really use a lawyer or somebody that’s really been involved in nonprofits in California that could assist me.”

Fees required to achieve nonprofit status have also made the process difficult.

“You’ve got to pay this fee and that fee and, you know, it is money that I don’t have right now. But in order to continue doing what were doing, we almost have to [become a nonprofit],” Summers said.

While access to HIV/AIDS medications and services in Tijuana is still a problem, things are starting to change.

EUNIME helps Mendoza obtain her medication and continues to house her and her son.

“EUNIME has been a big help. I don’t know what I would have done without them,” she said.

Meds4Mexico is hosting its first fund-raiser event, “Afternoon in the Garden,” Sunday, Aug. 17 from 2-7 p.m. in Rosarito. It will be an afternoon of “friendship, food, drinks, music and entertainment,” Summers said.

Jorge Alejandro will provide musical entertainment. There will also be a raffle and silent auction. Tickets are $20 until Aug. 15 and $25 after.

For more information on Meds4Mexico visit www.bajagay.com/meds4mexico or www.myspace.com/meds4mexico.

To purchase tickets for Afternoon in the Garden, call 619-817-8220 or 661-612-7903 or e-mail Summers at meds4mexico@gmail.com.

The charity event will benefit several HIV/AIDS nonprofit organizations in Tijuana, including EUNIME.

EUNIME is hosting its own fund-raiser, the 2008 Pioneer Fashion Show, on Saturday, Aug. 2 in San Diego. For information about the event and to purchase tickets, please contact Rosalva Vasquez at 619-543-8080, ext. 239. Mark McDowell contributed to this story.