APRIL 3, 1998 GAY PEOPle's ChronICLE 15
COMMUNITY GROUPS
Ohio volunteers raise funds for AIDS research
by Keith A. Morgan Columbus-A unique and exciting movement is occurring across the state. People with HIV and AIDS, along with their friends and family, are taking an empowered role in the fight against AIDS.
"It's like that Annie Lennox song 'Sisters are Doing it For Themselves'," chuckled one member of the Ohio AIDS Coalition.
Across the state, individual and groups of volunteers, form the Ohio AIDS Coalition. Together, this group offers people with HIV and AIDS and their loved ones hope, healing and empowerment. The services and assistance these volunteers offer include healing weekends for people with HIV disease, community-wide healing days and educational programs, advocacy, an HIV treatment newsletter, and
more.
While it is unique that the people most affected by the HIV crisis are doing something about the situation themselves, still another aspect of the coalition's approach sets them apart. OAC members are giving a portion of the funds they raise to support AIDS research and care for people with AIDS in underdeveloped countries.
"The Coalition's decision to raise funds for research and global AIDS relief is a demonstration of their commitment to do all that is possible to end this epidemic," said Keith Kinder, OAC's executive director. This is quite impressive considering the fact that the Coalition's own projects require a great deal of fund raising." The Ohio AIDS Coalition, unlike most AIDS service organizations, receives no federal funding.
Three months after the group elected to help fund AIDS research and global relief
OHIO
efforts, members have raised nearly $20,000. Groups in Toledo, Cleveland, Akron, Columbus, Portsmouth, Marietta, Dayton, and Cincinnati, along with "at large" members in other parts of the state are participating in OAC's quarterly fund raising projects. Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus and Akron lead the way.
Of the funds raised so far, one half will stay in local communities to provide treatment education and support. A portion of the remaining funds will provide education and support at a state
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level. The balance, twenty percent, is being donated to research and global relief efforts. "The group's strategy is refreshing," says Kinder. "For years now, everyone's been asked to give, give, give. The Coaliton's fund raising approach takes what is given and funnels it to local, state, research and global support."
The Ohio AIDS Coalition was established in 1986 and has provided emotional support and education to thousands of Ohio residents with HIV and AIDS. In April, Dayton's group
of volunteers will produce the coalition's 40th Healing Weekend for over 100 people with HIV. In May, OAC, along with AmFar, the American Foundation for AIDS Research will sponsor a statewide educational forum on HIV-related wasting syndrome.
"You don't have to be HIV-positive to be a part of the Coalition," Kinder reminds everyone. "You just need to care." For more information about the Ohio AIDS Coalition, call-800-226-5554. ✓
Keith A. Morgan is a volunteer with the Ohio AIDS Coalition.
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