community 30TH ANNIVERSARY
“WE ALL LOVE THE 80’s, but some things would be better left behind.
The spread of HIV disease is one comeback nobody wants to see.
JOIN US!”
We’re taking back a decade of stigma and loss and infusing it with hope for an end
Benefitting to the AIDS epidemic in Orange County!
SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2016 WILLIAM R. MASON REGIONAL PARK, IRVINE, CA REGISTER TODAY AT
WWW.AIDSWALKORANGECOUNTY.ORG
WE WALK AIDS WALK ORANGE COUNTY AT 30
THIS IS WHY by tim parks Saturday, May 14 marks the 30th anniversary of
AIDS Walk Orange County and with that milestone, comes reflection on why we still walk. The face of HIV/AIDS has changed over the last three decades from a certain death sentence in the early days of the disease, to something that has in the world of today, for lack of a better word, become “manageable.” This year’s theme, Reclaiming The Eighties,
heads the annual fundraising event held at William R. Mason Regional Park, which serves as a means to improve the lives of men, woman and children affected by HIV/AIDS via AIDS Services Founda- tion of Orange County. The Rage Monthly posed the question, “Why do we still walk?” to walk chair, Michelle Williams and longtime participant and top AIDS Walk fundraiser, Debbie Reed. Williams became involved as an AIDS Services Foundation volunteer in 2009. “I was the team captain for one of their recipient agencies for AIDS Walk. Each year they have a recipient agency that benefits from the funds raised,” she explained. “I started attending committee meetings and assisting in the planning and execution of the walk with the event manager and the other committee members. I just kept coming back year after year, because it’s just such a vitally important walk and walks are getting tougher and tougher each year.” For Reed, AIDS Walk was and is, very close to
her heart and got her involved starting in 1992. “My brother had been diagnosed with KF and AIDS in May of 1991,” Reed described. “The walk was hap- pening in June and I heard something about it and drove by. I saw just a little ragtag group of people and thought, ‘Okay, next year I’m going to be in the walk.’ So, I’ve been walking since ’92. I have a son, who was three at the time and we started out in the stroller. We went to a wagon, then to him walking and he’s now 28 and he still walks with me.” The behind-the-scenes challenges have been a
very real factor in how the event is staged each year as Williams explained. “It’s been a challenge to keep the number of walkers up because there are so many other walks out there,” she said. “I would say the biggest change, is trying to be inventive with keeping people engaged, getting captains to re-register their team and continue to grow them. That is definitely a challenge.” Reed has also seen the landscape around AIDS
Walk change. “In the earlier years of the walk, I felt there was more exposure to the community and they would actually block off the streets. We got as much as maybe 10,000 walkers,” she said. “I think maybe the general public has come to believe that there’s been a cure, so I don’t know if there’s as much notice. I feel like the walk is still hanging in there, but, I feel like we get hidden a little from the
community. I see that change.” There is one thing however, she would love to see changed for good. “I wish we didn’t have to use the word annual; that next year it wouldn’t need to happen.” “We still walk because there is no cure and there
is no vaccine for HIV and AIDS,” Williams stated. “A.S.F. is completely relevant in trying to bring this epidemic in Orange County to zero levels. People are tested, know their status, they are in treatment and they utilize the services of A.S.F. to suppress their viral load and stay healthy, which then equates to not spreading the disease in the community.” Reed echoed that sentiment, “Because we still
have people who are HIV and have AIDS and have to live with it. We need organizations where they can go get support and just for the general public at large. This can happen to anyone, it’s not segregated to any one group of people. We’re all in this together and we need to continue. For myself, I’ll continue to walk for awareness.” We walk through tragedy. We walk through triumph. We walk through fear. We walk through hope. This is why we walk.
For more information about AIDS Services Foundation Orange County, or to register for AIDS Walk O.C., go to
ocasf.org.
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RAGE monthly | MAY 2016
RAGE monthly | MAY 2016
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