OVER THE HUDSON – The Walkway Over
the Hudson was the scene of this year’s 23rd Annual AIDS Walk organized
by Hudson Valley Community Services. Every year, community organizations
and local supporters use the walk to raise money for those who are living
with AIDS or may be prone to new infection. This year’s AIDS Walk
raised over $25,000 in donations.
According to the last report, which was conducted in 2012, there are approximately
7,000 people in the Hudson Valley living with HIV AIDS. Jay Dewey, director
of public relations and resource enhancement for Hudson Valley Community
Services, said his agency serves about 1,200 of them every year and the
money raised at the AIDS Walk events helps finance crucial services for
those that suffer with the disease.
Participants
in Saturday’s AIDS walk
“The fund-raising that we do here helps to sort of fill in some
gaps in some funding,” said Dewey. “So, it’ll help things
like when a transportation program runs short, getting a ride to the doctor’s
office; prevention programs often need money to provide incentives to
get people in for HIV testing, food pantries: they often need some help
because those rely purely on donated money and donated food. So, we use
things like this to sort of help all those different kinds of programs
whenever they have a budget shortfall.”
Hudson Valley Community Services provided buses for free AIDS tests and
also provided designated staff for those who needed a person to confide
in about their disease.
Kay Flaminio, executive director of the community based organization Hudson
Valley LGBTQ Center, said the event is an important tool for spreading
awareness about AIDS that the community needs.
“I think it’s an amazing event,” said Flaminio. “I
think that it’s just a very empowering, important event and it’s
important for everyone to support it, especially because there’s
less and less public understanding of AIDS as we make so much forward
progress.”
Dewey said that the walk is a necessity for people suffering with AIDS
in the community to get the funding they need for their services but their
organization will know when the AIDS situation is no longer an issue when
there is no more need for the walk.
