Guest Blog: Join 4/30 AIDS Walk to Support Food Bank, AIDS Projects

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This is a guest blog by Marshall Martinez of Albuquerque, NM. He has been an activist in community organizing around many topics for over fifteen years, beginning with HIV/AIDS Prevention work.

I recently wrote a guest blog for Democracy for New Mexico highlighting an often overlooked or under-discussed issue in New Mexico: the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the lack of serious prevention measures/programs in our area. It was well received, it seems, and hopefully began a discussion about the issue in homes and offices where it hadn’t been previously brought up.  

The biggest response I got to the essay was, “What can we do to help?” And I am writing now, to answer that question!

The Albuquerque Pride Joe and Jean Travis HIV/AIDS Food Bank was recently opened in Albuquerque. It is privately funded and run by local activists rather than the nonprofit, state-funded organization that used to house it. This opening is the first step to filling the void left behind by the huge programmatic cuts made by New Mexico AIDS Services. The struggle, however, is only beginning in this economy for this small, private non-profit with big hopes for our community.

So to help fund this project and the prevention and care projects coming in the future, Albuquerque will have its first AIDS Walk in years. On Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 11:00 AM, hundreds, if not thousands, of caring activists, families and friends will come together to celebrate life, raise awareness and, most of all, create a funding source for this Food Bank. The Food Bank will eventually be an entire resource center for HIV/AIDS issues in Albuquerque. All we are missing is your team!

Joining us for the AIDS Walk is easy and will be fun! Just check out the Albuquerque Pride webpage to download the registration forms. Recruit your team, and start raising money! Remember, any contribution you can raise or make yourself will help! If there are 600 people in Albuquerque who can bring $50 to the event, we will have $30,000 in the bank by May 1st -- enough funding for an entire year's worth of programs planned for the Food Bank!

As a 27-year-old gay man, few issues have affected my life as much as HIV/AIDS. I began working in the prevention field when I was 14 years old, and in the time since I have been affected deeply by the issue and the people facing it.

From meeting men and women who were among the first generation of HIV-positive people and watching them battle the disease over a decade later, to meeting young men my age and younger, who were failed by our lack of prevention programs and are facing the beginning of a lifelong battle with HIV, I have seen the face of HIV/AIDS too many times. I have heard even more stories of the struggles of my community to afford healthy foods, or simple pleasures like desserts and sodas. The quality of life, obviously the most important thing for these, our Sisters and Brothers, is often a stretch too far for their means.   

Please Help
Please consider putting together a team, raising money or simply donating to the teams already in formation. Remember, these are our Brothers and Sisters suffering, and they deserve compassion. 

You can follow Albuquerque Pride events and activities on Facebook.

This is a guest blog by Marshall Martinez. If you'd like to submit a piece for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link at the upper left-hand corner of the page.