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Vital Bridges looks just like any other storefront on Broadway Avenue in the Edgewater community. But on the inside, a mural spans the walls in the front of the shop, giving it a Miami vibe. The furniture is plush and eclectic. Festive Halloween decorations fill the shop’s nooks and crannies. Vital Bridges has a distinct homey feel.

According to Debbie Hinde, the company’s president and CEO, the decor in the facility serving those living with HIV or AIDS is intentional.

“Each of our spaces is a little bit different,” she said. “When people walk in the door at any of the sites, we want them to feel accepted, cared for and comfortable.

Vital Bridges delivered its 10 millionth meal to an AIDS sufferer Thursday. Since 1988, it has been providing healthy meals at no charge to the more than 1,500 clients it serves yearly.

The not-for-profit organization hit the million meal mark in the mid-'90s, and need has been increasing since. For Hinde, this is a mixture of accomplishment and grave realization.

“I think ten million meals is staggering and we never thought we’d have to do it,” Hinde said. “When that began to [happen], we thought, ‘Oh my gosh, this is terrible.’”

Hinde said the economy is partly responsible for an increased need in healthy meals. Many clients have lost their jobs and are unable to pay for healthy groceries or doctor visits.

“People come into intake a lot sicker than we had seen them in a while, and that’s because they haven’t seen their doctor in a while,” she said.

According to the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, there are more than 20,000 individuals living with HIV or AIDS in Chicago.

Johnathan Briggs, a spokesman for the foundation, called the meal milestone “bittersweet.”

“It’s great that Vital Bridges has been around to be a vital source for people. Unfortunately, this is also a measure of how disproportionately affected those with AIDS are by the economy,” Briggs said.

The AIDS Foundation has created a website, direct2food.org, that connects Chicagoans to food resources in their community. It includes each of the five grocery sites owned by Vital Bridges.

Vital Bridges has criteria for those who can receive meals so that it can provide for those who need it most.

“We are really serving the sickest and the poorest," Hinde said. "Clients must not only have HIV, but they have to be disabled by it" and have an income of 140 percent of the federal poverty level or less.

Although the income limit for Vital Bridges is around $13,000 a year, Hinde said most of her clients live on less than $9,000 a year.

Lori Cannon, 21-year employee, said working at Vital Bridges is not only a passion of hers, but a mission.

“Like so many others, I have seen a lot and I have lost a lot. I long for the day that we can go out of business. That would, for me, be a triumph.”