Wallcs to remember
Carolina AIDS walks raise awareness, funds during time of need
by Matt Comer matt@goqnotes.com
While it would be difficult to overstate
the imjiDrtance of AIDS Walk fundraisers in
the battle against HIV and AIDS, the events
themselves couldn't be much simpler.
Participants solicit donations from family
and friends before gathering together on
event day to walk a pre-determined course
through town. For some Walks, a registration
fee is collected in lieu of pledges. In either
case, all money raised goes to one or'more .
local AIDS charities..
As in the past several years, this year's
slew of events across the state will play an
important role in raising both much-needed
funding and awareness for AIDS services
organizations and the crucial role they play
in the health and well-being of their com
munities. But, 2011 also holds other important
and symbolic meanings marking the 30th
anniversary of the AIDS Crisis. On June 5.
1981, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) reported on the first cases
of what would eventually be named Acquired
Immunodeficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. From
five, sick young men in Los Angeles, the
Crisis grew. A lack of government response
in the face of thousands of deaths nationwide
sparked action.
Short walks, long histories
The concept isn't new or unique to
AIDS fundraising—the CROP Walk to fight
hunger and poverty has successfully used
this charity model since the late '60s. What is
different, however, is the politically charged
climate from which the AIDS Walk movement
emerged.
The first AIDS Walk was held in Los
Angeles in 1985 to benefit AIDS Project Los
Angeles. Four years in and with the U.S. death
toll approaching 5,000, the epidemic vvas still
being treated like a radioactive social issue
ratiierthan a critical health concern.
President Ronald Reagan mentioned the
word "AIDS" in public for the first time in
'85, and then only in response to a reporter's
questions. Congress' anemic funding for care
and research showed.no signs that lawmak
ers considered AIDS a priority issue either.
Among the public, the belief that people
with AIDS could be divided into innocent
victims (hemophiliacs, babies born to infected
mothers) and the deserving (gays, drug users)
was still widespread. Lingering fear about
how the disease could be spread fueled per
vasive ostracism and discrimination against
the infected.
From this dire environment sprang the
first AIDS Walk, which is significant both for
the fact that it established a means for the
community to raise life-saving aid money that
the government wasn't providing, as well as
for the courage of the walkers who braved the
stigma associated with AIDS.
Following on the heels of the LA. walkers
were.participants at similar events in New
York and San Francisco. Before long, AIDS
Walks were being organized in cities from
coast to coast, including the Carolinas where
multiple events are held across the region
each year.
Trying times
Last year. North Carolina's community of
HIV/AIDS patients were hit with devastating
blows. As the state legislature faced loom-
8 qnotes April I6-29.2011
ing budget deficits, officials with the
N.C. Department of Health's HIV/STD
Prevention and Care Branch announced
enrollment in the state's AIDS Drug
Assistance Prograrri (ADAP) would
be capped at current levels. Though
low-income HIV/AIDS patients who
were already enrolled would continue to
receive medicines, hundreds were put on f
a waiting list that eventually became the.
longest in the nation.
Leaders like the Rev. Debbie Warren
of Charlotte's Regional AIDS Interfaith
Network (RAIN), Addison Ore of
Greensboro's Triad Health Project and
John Paul Womble of Raleigh's Alliance
of AIDS Services-Carolina sprang into
action. With the advocacy of state AIDS
and STD director Jacquelyn Clymore,
North Carolina eventually passed a bud
get that included restored funds for the
program, though eligibility levels were
reduced.
Ore says the funding crisis that AIDS
service providers and patients faced last
year is still taking its toll, though potential
future cuts could be worse.
"It's all up for debate," she says.
"There are no sacred cows anymore."
State legislators usually deal with
budgetary matters in their biennial short
session. That's when last year's ADAP
funding was restored and passed. But
this year, the state faces a $2.7 billion
deficit—down$1 billion when the
legislature opened this year's session
in January. That's spawned efforts to cut
spending and some legislators have put AIDS
funding on the chopping block.
In January, state Rep. Larry Brown, a
Republican who represents portions of east
ern Forsyth County, told The Winston-Salem
Journal^at state government shouldn't be
funding HIV/AIDS treatment for those who
"caused it by the way they live."
"I'm not opposed to helping a child born
with HIV or something," Brown told the paper,
"but I don't condone spending taxpayers'
.money to help people living in perverted
lifestyles."
Brown's remarks on HIV/AIDS fund
ing were quickly condemned by statewide
advocates.
"These comments are completely unac
ceptable," Ian Palmquist, Equality North '
Carolina's executive director, said in a release
at the time. "Larry Brown is out of touch with
the people of North Carolina, who strongly
support programs to care for the most vulner
able among us, and he's out of step with his
own party."
Brown had previously caused controversy
after calling gays "queers" and "fruitloops" in
an email to his Republican colleagues.
Such a hostile social agenda concerns
Ore, who is cautious after last November's
change in legislative leadership.
"I certainly don't believe someone like
Rep. Larry Brown speaks for the entire
Republican leadership, but I think when some
one speaks like that it's indicative of a feeling.
That's very concerning to me."
Ore's organization relies on a mix of sup
port from federal, state and local funding.
"We rely more and more on what we are
able to raise ourselves," Ore says, noting de
Participants in RAIN's AIDS Walk Charlotte walk to remember a friend.
creases in federal grants and flat-lined local
funding. "Individual donations have remained
fairly stable, but we have to keep going back
to the well more often. We're starting to battle
donor fatigue."
Messages of hope, strains
of advocacy
Nathan Smith, RAIN's director of develop
ment and marketing, says his organization
has also felt the brunt of meager times.
"We've felt it like any other non-profit,"
he says, noting his group had to layoff som6
workers when the economy initially nose
dived in Charlotte a fewyears-ago.
But Smith is quick to point out that finan
cial hardships are standing in stark contrast
to the good that often comes out of fundrais
ers like RAIN's upcoming AIDS Walk Charlotte
on May 7.
AIDS Walk Charlotte is RAIN's largest
fundraiser each year. It's also one of the
group's largest public advocacy and aware
ness-building tools.
"We truly push and want people to under
stand [this issue]," he says. "That's why we
have no registration fee and we encourage
middle and high school and college students
who can't raise money to come out and sup
port us. It's about showing the community that
this is still an issue for us."
Ore's Triad Health Project holds their
Winter Walk for AIDS each December. Ore
says she's always very intentional about
stressing awareness along with fundraising.
"That's often when we'll get a call from lo
cal people," she says. "It's a great opportunity
to get the word out in front of people."
Triad Health Project is also celebrating,
their 25th anniversary this year, an occasion
that has garnered the group more local press
and attention to the important issues that's
kept them running.
RAIN's AIDS Walk Charlotte celebrates
15 years in May. Like Triad Health Project,
RAIN has felt the pinch but feels events like
their Walk help to close tiie gaps and create
opportunities for change.
At the end of the day. Smith says RAIN
isn't going anywhere.
"We've been here for 19 years, and we're
going to be here until the Crisis is over," he
says.::
— David Stout contributed
Walks across Carolina
May 7 * Chariotte
AIDS Walk Charlotte
One of the largest AIDS fundrais
ers across the Carolinas, AIDS Walk
Charlotte raises furids for the Regional
AIDS Interfaith Network. To register
walk teams of learn more, visit aid-
swalkchariotte.org.
May 21 • Raleigh
AlOSWalk^Hide
Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina
hosts their annual walk and bicycle ride
in downtown Raleigh. Register walkers,
learn more about the ride and more at
aidswalkandrjde.org.
Oecember ■ Greensboro
Winter Walk for AIDS
Triad Health Projectlakes to the
streets of downtown Greensboro's
Aycock Neighborhood. For more infor
mation, visittraidhealthproject.com.
For more events see our Q Events
Calendar on page 19.