Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2009. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Washington Blade - May 15, 2009
Matt Schafer
The fundraiser for AIDS research has grown every year since 2002, and with leadership from Bret Bush and several new board members, this year's 200-mile bike ride should be the largest and most successful to date.
"We're pretty excited about it," Bush said. "We had some new people join the steering committee who were strong about recruiting new riders and encouraging those riders to fundraise earlier."
By starting recruitment two months earlier, they have increased the number of riders from 57 in 2008 to an expected 80 riders this year. Last year the AV 200 reported raising $400,000 since 2002, and Bush said they will cross the $500,000 mark this year.
"We've been very successful at meeting our goals. Our donations are actually up in a down economy," Bush said, adding that every dollar a rider raises is donated to the clinic, with nothing going to administrative costs. "We can do that because of the generosity of our sponsors and an all-volunteer staff."
The funds raised are donated directly to the Hope Clinic of Emory University, which conducts clinical trials of vaccines, including the AIDS vaccine currently being developed by Emory's Harriet Robinson. While the clinic receives funding from several different sources, the AV 200 donations are the Hope Clinic's largest source of discretionary funds.
Many of the ride's details have changed this year. Instead of leaving and returning from The Depot at Emory, the ride will start and finish at the Emory Vaccine Center, which oversees the Hope Clinic.
"We're also massing up and riding into Emory together," Bush said. "It will increase the impact of the ending; it will make it a more impactful ending for the riders, volunteers and the donors."
Week of Hope paired down
The ride is the main event of a significantly paired down Week of Hope, which coincides with International HIV Vaccine Awarness Day, May 18.
Where last year a series of Atlanta events led up to the AIDS Vaccine 200, the only events for this year are the "There's Hope in Our Soul" symposium on May 19, and an hour-long HIV special on the Sistas' Time radio show May 14.
Paula Frew, the Hope Clinic's director of health communication and applied research, said the Week of Hope was shorted because of financial and staffing issues.
"We're starting up five new studies in the next couple of months," Frew said. "We thought that it was better that since there was so much going on with the research agenda to focus on those projects and getting those going."
The "There's Hope In Our Soul" symposium attracted about 80 African-American faith leaders last year, and this year organizers hope for 100 or more. Jeffery Roman, Hope's community educator, said the symposium is needed to reach out to find African American volunteers.
"It's our effort at the Hope Clinic to educate African-American church leaders on HIV prevention and the AIDS vaccine research," he said. "We have an under-representation of African Americans in studies, and we do a pretty good job at the Hope Clinic and that's because of our outreach to the church community."
The other event is a radio show on WRFG 89.3FM from 6 to 7 p.m., May 14.
"It's our privilege every year to offer a program that discusses where we are with the efforts at Emory," said Dazon Dixon Diallo, producer and host of Sistas' Time.
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