Stories From Aids Walk NY 2012

The AIDS Walk took place in New York on Sunday May 20, 2012. While every participant walked for a different reason, they all walked for the same cause, which was support the fight against AIDS and HIV.  Check out the video I shot during Aids Walk NY 2012 "Stories From The Walk". Hope to see you on the walk in 2013!

--Kyle Sweet

GET DOWN Youth Blogger

kylesweet2013@gmail.com

GETTING DOWN With Aids Walk NY 2012!!

It's May! And for GET DOWN, that means it's time for Aids Walk NY, the largest single-day AIDS fundraising event in the world.  Founded by GMHC, the world's first AIDS service organization, the 10-kilometer walkathon was designed to raise urgently needed funds for GMHC, and to battle the stigma so many associated with HIV/AIDS. The event took place on May 18, 1986 at Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park, Fordham University's Robert Moses Plaza, and the streets of the Upper West Side. Today, the AIDS Walk begins and ends in Central Park.  In its 27 years, AIDS Walk New York has inspired nearly 845,000 people to walk, and millions more to donate, raising more than $122 million to combat HIV and AIDS. The funds raised at the event remain a vital lifeline that sustains GMHC's prevention, care, and advocacy programs for the thousands of men, women, and families affected by the disease in the tri-state area.

WHY DO WE WALK? Because Half of all new HIV infections

 in the U.S. occur in people 25 years of age or younger.

GET DOWN is just beginning. We are grassroots. You can read all about us here getdownpsa.blogspot.com, friend us at facebook.com/getdownpsa and follow us on twitter.com/getdownpsa. The GET DOWN PSAs are on You Tube and on our sites as well. 

We are walking with TEAM FACES NY (#0638) and are proud to have met so many young people at the Brooklyn Youth Conference that want to walk with us!

Please go here to donate to GET DOWN creator and executive producer Kim J. Ford's page: http://aidswalknewyork2012.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1000060&lis=1&kntae1000060=B930CD2C388249B6A1F4B6CE1518A3DE&supId=289403036

The GET DOWN team is thanking you in advance for standing with us in the fight against HIV/AIDS and helping spread awareness among youth and young adults.

--The GET DOWN Team

www.facebook.com/getdownpsa

www.twitter.com/getdownpsa

getdownpsa2008@gmail.com

We're Walking and Need Your Support

We, at GET DOWN, are so happy to be walking in AIDS Walk NY this year again with FACES NY. We'll be joining CBS and companies and community based organizations in the fight against HIV & AIDS. We're helping raise money for services at the local level.

Please click on the AIDS WALK NY poster, on the right, and donate. Thanks!

Sincerely,

Team GET DOWN

GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS

Hey Ladies, Gents and Kiddies of all ages!

Since December 2010, we’ve been getting busy. On World Aids Day 2010, in conjunction with Safe Horizon’s “Safe Harbor” program at ACORN High School in Brooklyn, NY we visited four classes. It was the first time GET DOWN and FACES NY did a joint, interactive presentation. It was always GET DOWN’s goal to have education be a key component of what we do. So now, our feet are officially “on the ground”, along with our charity partner, FACES NY.

FACES NY Education Team Member educate the ACORN High School Youth.




FACES NY Education Team Member dispels the myths.


Viewing the GET DOWN PSA.

The kids at ACORN were so inquisitive. There are so many myths and misconceptions out there about HIV, what it is, what is AIDS, and how is HIV contracted. Still, 30 years later, the same questions. Not much as changed from when I was in school, except that now there is more information out there and way more research has been done. So why is it that there is still so much misinformation, especially among the youth? HIV/AIDS Education, or lack thereof, is a key barrier to prevention. With limited resources, qualified personnel and training, the education system can only go but so far. Another is school attendance. The Center For Disease Control (CDC) lists “poverty and out-of-school-youth” as a factor. Simply put, if you are not there, you can’t receive the information.

We consider ourselves “gap-fillers” because that’s where local organizations like FACES NY come in and bridge the gap between educators and lack of training, resources and tools. The GET DOWN PSA was cited by educators at ACORN High School as being a “modern teaching tool”. For this reason, we hope you will continue to support GET DOWN and FACES NY in the coming years.

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT GET DOWN? Just by reading and following our Blog, commenting, sharing our links, following us on Twitter and friending us on Facebook. You can also blog for us every once in a while. It’s by and about people like you, people who care about what’s going on in the community and understand how HIV/AIDS affects everyone. It’s a global pandemic. The blog is our voice and offers a way to have conversation and dialogue.

We also need your financial support for FACES NY. Budgets and monies for HIV/AIDS education, counseling, treatment were adversely affected by the deep and long recession. That’s why the GET DOWN team is walking with FACES NY (TEAM #0638) at AIDS WALK 2011.

Walking with TEAM FACES NY at AIDS Walk 2010.


I personally hope to best my last year’s goal. To support my walk, which benefits FACES NY, a 501c3 HIV/AIDS organization, please make a donation by GOING TO THIS URL: http://aidswalknewyork2011.kintera.org/kimjford

Let’s GET DOWN TO BUSINESS! Thanks so much!

In peace and progress,

Kim J. Ford
Creator and Chief Bottle Washer
GET DOWN PSA Campaign & Movement