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AIDS Walk Michigan: A unique collaboration

By Barbara Murray, President, AIDS Walk Michigan

On Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 1 and 2, AIDS Walk Michigan will take place in eight cities throughout the state of Michigan. It will be the eighth year we have walked together – from Ann Arbor, Bay City/Saginaw/Midland, Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing and Traverse City.
We're rather proud of ourselves. In a state where political competition between cities has often been the pattern, the vision we share is solid and strong. To this day, we continue to be the only such AIDS walk in the country, where eight cities work together on a common event to support our unique vision.
As you read in the Sept. 15 issue of Between The Lines, we put our heads together (online, that is) and decided to set aside five percent of our net profits for the Hurricane Katrina HIV/AIDS Relief Fund at the National AIDS Fund. While tight funding and funding cuts have become the norm for our programs, we are not facing the enormous burden that our fellow service providers are facing in the Gulf Coast states. For some agency leaders, they still have not been able to locate all of their staff. Clients are faced with medication needs, food, shelter and clothing needs – it really was a no-brainer. It is simply the right thing to do. Even as I write this, we are doing an intake for an evacuee who needs case management and, above all, his medications.
AIDS Walk Michigan will bring many thoughts and memories to each of us as we walk in our communities this coming Saturday and Sunday. Sometimes those thoughts are bittersweet.
Sometimes those thoughts make us laugh out loud.
We'll think of…
Richard Hillaker from Flint who made our walk planning meetings outright funny. We miss him.
Dan Stoepker who never missed a Detroit walk, always teaching us that your faith is a big player in your health.
Jim Knox, who, after 18 years, has stepped down as the board president at CARES in Kalamazoo. What a wonderful and dedicated man.
Tom Brubaker and Margo Charlebois who are creating the Bay City/Saginaw/Midland walk for the first time.
Sara Ebinger and Brian Simerson who are bringing back the Traverse City walk.
Carl Ilbrink and the ever growing Grand Rapids walk. Last year they raised the most dollars of any walk city.
Patrick Lombardi and the Evans Scholars who have supported the Lansing walk for years.
Eliza Maroni and Jimena Loveluck from Ann Arbor who have brought on board Michigan Radio to support all the walks.
Between The Lines, whose support enabled us to get the word out long before others joined in.
The Michigan AIDS Fund, the source of our seed funding and the originator of AIDS Walk Michigan. We simply wouldn't be here without them.
If you have already offered up your support to this year's AIDS Walk Michigan, our sincere thanks. If you haven't, click on http://www.aidswalkmichigan.org.
This walk is about money, but it is also about advocacy, memories, colleagues and a tenacious dream that someday AIDS will be over. Share our dream.

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