I am on such a high after this week - all those amazing speeches, and seeing my friends on TV, it has been great. I was so proud, watching Joe Biden & Barack Obama last night, and grateful that I like in the country that elected them.
Another great thing that happened last night - the 25th anniversary party for AIDS Walk Austin. Yep, it has baan 25 years & we've come a long way, but not nearly far enough. Come with me below the squiggly thing & I'll tell you why you should donate $25 to my AIDS Walk Austin page
So, 25 years. Twenty five years. And I've walked every year. Through the years when the Walk was protested by a (very small) band of sad, pathetic people. Through the years when it has been in the upper 90s, and the year a cold front blew in the night before & it (felt like it was) freezing & pouring rain. Every time. Because the agencies this raises money for help people every day. You donate today, and the next foodbank day there is more food for them to distribute. You donate today and there are more matreials for the people doing outreach at their next event.
People seem to think there's a cure, or that people are already educated & aren't getting the disease any more. This is not true. There is no cure. There are drugs that can make it manageable, but they are damn expensive, and not everyone gets them. People don't know their status, because they don't know they need to get tested (because we need to do more outreach). People get tested too late - the director of AIDS Services of Austin said last night that there have been cases recently where young people were diagnosed with not just HIV infection, but with fully developed AIDS. And only 1/3 of all HIV-infected people get anti-retroviral therapy. AIDS Services of Austin, the Wright House Wellness Center, Waterloo Counseling, and the other beneficiary agencies need your money to educate people and get them the meds they need. So, yeah, I'm asking that you dig deep and doonate $25 for my 25 years of walking to my AIDS Walk Austin page . Because it isn't for me, it's for L, who needs the meds. It is for those young & maybe foolish teenagers who need to be told that AIDS is still out there and yes, they can get it. It is for people who are barely hanging on and need the food from the foodbank so they can keep their nutrition up so they can take their meds.
This walk isn't about depression or scaring people, it is a wonderful coming together of the community, and celebrating what we have done (I mean, 25 years!) and what we can do. We can help people, we can prevent the spread of AIDS, and some day we will see it end. So please donate $25 to my AIDS Walk Austin page. The joy of the Walk is seen in this year's logo - here's a picture of a cookie I bought at the party last night, with the logo on it, isn't it gorgeous?
And because it's Friday & I'm feeling revved up & ready to take on both the hard work of being the top fundraiser this year, and the work it'll take for Democrats to win across the board in November, here's the Dropkick Murphys, with the song they played at the Wisconsin protests: