Almost 8,000 people participated in the AIDS Walk Washington on Saturday morning. The event, which raised nearly $684,882, will benefit the Whitman-Walker Clinic, which works with D.C.-area HIV and AIDS patients.
About 30 AU students took part in the five-kilometer walk around the Washington monuments on a drizzling day, according to the AIDS Walk Web site.
The AU team, along with the rest of the participants, helped raise awareness of HIV and AIDS in an area where one out of every 20 people have HIV, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The AU team contributed nearly $710 to the clinic.
School of Public Affairs graduate student Sarah Godshall raised $400, the most money out of all student participants, according to the AIDS Walk Web site. Godshall said in an e-mail that she raised this money between friends, family and current AU students and alumni.
Godshall is the co-social chair of the SPA Graduate Council and made this a council event, she said.
"The driving force behind my decision to walk was that, at this moment I do not know anyone affected by AIDS but I don't ever want to know anyone who would die from AIDS," Godshall said.
She was further encouraged by the District's delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton.
"[Norton] gave me even more reason to walk, by explaining that because D.C. does not have a needle exchange program, D.C. has higher AIDS-HIV rates than even San Francisco," Godshall said.
Several other AU students volunteered to help out with event registration and handing water to walkers. Jeannie Moran, a member of the Alpha Phi Omega community service fraternity, helped to organize a group of AU volunteers.
Moran said her interest in pursuing a career in medicine was a motivation to participate. She also cites the need for funding as the reason students wanted to help out.
"Being a person who has dealt with disease, I realize the problem in funding," Moran said. "Money is always an issue, not only to AIDS patients, but anybody who has dealt with any disease. I felt that volunteering was a great opportunity to contribute to this cause and help out hundreds of people in need."
Whitman-Walker spokesman Chip Lewis said, "There was a higher number of participants compared to the past two years."
He added that the total amount of contributions was much higher than last year's, when the walk brought in about $100,000.
Lewis said that the event's funds will be a big asset to the clinic's HIV/AIDS services, which serve thousands of area residents, especially the gay and lesbian communities. Every year, the clinic provides services to more than 7,000 patients and administers 6,000 HIV tests.
"Anyone who lives with HIV can access our services," Lewis said. "This money will benefit thousands of people who are HIV-positive."
The Whitman-Walker Clinic offers a variety of services, including HIV testing, mental health counseling, AIDS education and medical care for HIV/AIDS patients. The clinic has locations in the District, Takoma Park, Md., and Arlington, Va.
Lewis attributed the walk's success to several factors, including a more aggressive advertising campaign, greater media coverage, and people's realization that the current economy is a threat to the clinic's services. Moran said she did not have to do a lot of motivating to get AU students to participate.
"This is a topic pertinent to our age group," she said.
The CDC reported that in 2000, 1,688 people between the ages of 13 and 24 were reported to have AIDS, resulting in a total of 31,293 cases in this age group in the U.S.
A report also states that in 1999, HIV was the fifth leading cause of death for Americans aged 25 to 44.
"This is a very important cause because of the fact that HIV/AIDS has claimed the lives of millions of people in the world and the lives of thousands in the Washington area," Moran said.
