Students to sponsor AIDS walk on Saturday, Dec. 1

STEPS, a student organization at SUNY Fredonia, will host Chautauqua County’s first annual AIDS walk on Saturday, Dec. 1, in the village of Fredonia, to raise campus and community awareness of the AIDS pandemic in Africa and specifically to generate funds to assist African children orphaned by the disease.

 

Douglas and Ann Manly of Fredonia will serve as guests of honor. Their son, David, was HIV positive and passed away from AIDS in 1983. Mr. Manly, former chair of the Fredonia College Foundation, and Mrs. Manly, a member of the Fredonia College Council, will join the walk and speak at a reception following at the Williams Center on campus.

 

Five sections of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, each measuring 12-square feet, will be brought to Fredonia for display at the reception. Each section is comprised of eight 3-by-6 foot panels sewn together, with each panel serving to memorialize the life of a person lost to AIDS.

 

The panel dedicated to David Manly, one of more than 40,000 colorful panels that comprise the quilt, will be on display.

 

Students and community members are invited to obtain individual sponsors to raise funds for the Malawi Children’s Village Foundation, which provides medical care, food and education to African children living in 37 tribal villages. Organizers note the need to raise money for this organization has become even more critical since a devastating fire in July destroyed a nutritional rehabilitation center operated by the foundation.

 

“They are in desperate need for funds right now and the proceeds from this walk will help them greatly,” said AIDS Walk Chair Molly Kubic.

 

SUNY Fredonia President Dennis Hefner will speak and be the official starter for the walk, which begins at noon at the Barker Commons gazebo in the village. Fredonia Mayor Michael Sullivan, along with Dr. Kevin Denny, co-founder of the Malawi Children’s Village, and Susan Denny, a member of the Malawi Children’s Village Foundation board, will give remarks at the reception. A presentation on the Malawi Children’s Village is also planned.

 

Registration for the walk will be in the basement of the Fredonia Village Hall beginning at 11 a.m. Participants are expected to complete the three-mile walk, which ends at the Williams Center, in 45 to 60 minutes. Shuttle transportation between the two sites will be offered and refreshments served at both locations. The registration fee has been set at $20 and pledge forms. and can be sent to the SUNY Fredonia Campus Life office at the Williams Center or brought to the walk.

 

The event sponsor, the student group STEPS (Students Teaching Equals Positive Sexuality), was formed in 1992 to educate students about HIV/AIDS, STDs, homophobia, sexual assault, and healthy and unhealthy relationships.