Twenty AU students raised over $1,300 to participate in the Whitman-Walker Clinic's 19th Annual D.C. AIDS Walk Saturday, a $600 increase from last year.
The students were joined by nearly 3,000 other walkers along the five-kilometer route, which started and ended in Freedom Plaza. The clinic estimated over $200,000 in cash donations were pledged over the week before the walk.
The clinic has been active in the battle against STDs since its founding in 1973 as a health care provider for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. That role expanded with the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in 1981.
The clinic provides anonymous HIV testing free of charge as well as case management, legal aid, mental health services, a food bank and other services for those who are HIV-positive. It also offers testing for syphillus, hepatitis, gonorrhea and chlamydia for a small fee, and counseling for people affected by those diseases.
"Each year, the need for ... funding has grown," said interim Executive Director Roberta Geidner-Antoniotti. "Today, Whitman-Walker Clinic is caring for more people than ever before and for longer periods of time, and we have never needed these dollars more."
Geidner-Antoniotti announced that Whitman-Walker of suburban Maryland was forced to close temporarily on Friday due to budget constraints and stressed that fundraising was particularly important this year because of this.
Eric Jost, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences and captain of the AU team for the walk for three years, said he knows the importance of the clinic as well as its current need, and he is proud that this year's team total increased by $300 over last year's AU team.
AIDS funding is "a pet cause of mine," Jost said. With so much misinformation about HIV/AIDS, he wants to assist in raising funds and awareness, he said.
Rachel Hertz, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs, was there to support Jost, her resident assistant, who she jokingly referred to as "a good recruiter."
Showing solidarity was a common motivation among the AU walkers.
"HIV/AIDS affects [the GLBT] community a great deal," said Mark Seaman, a senior in SPA. "As a community, we need to watch out for one another."
Walk organizers chose Canton "CJ" Jones, a gospel/R&B singer, as the event's main entertainment. His ballad "Number One Fan" spoke of steadfast support for a friend in times of difficulty, which was a theme repeated throughout the morning.
"[AIDS] is a worldwide pandemic that I'd really like to see cured before it claims more lives," said Jaclyn Boyle, a freshman in the School of International Service.
Mike Weiner, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, said while he had not heard of the Whitman-Walter Clinic before signing up for the walk, he did want to "heal the world, one disease at a time."
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-D.C.) urged participants that solidarity can be a springboard for greater action.
"Walk this disease off the face of the Earth!" she said.
