Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Washington Blade - October 22, 2004
Bryan Anderton
Three days later, Whitman-Walker officials are scheduled to present the 11th Annual Art for Life auction, a fund-raiser designed to assist the clinic's Latino clients.
"We're very excited about these two events," says Chip Lewis, a spokesperson for Whitman-Walker. "They're two of our bigger, our more successful events every year ... so we're quite excited about them coming up."
The 18th Annual AIDS Walk Washington - a 5K walk beginning and ending at Freedom Plaza in Northwest Washington, at Pennsylvania Avenue & 12th Street - takes place Oct. 23, and is expected to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the clinic.
Robert York, the director of AIDS Walk, said expectations are high. Last year, 376 teams and 3,857 individual people - about 6,000 walkers altogether - participated in the event.
As of late last week, York says the clinic had already registered 49 more teams than it had by the same time last year.
"At this point, all I can say is that it looks good, and that our numbers are exceeding last year's at this point," he says. "We're just hoping for the best."
"The best" would presumably be an increase in the amount of money the event brings in for the clinic. Last year, Lewis said, Whitman-Walker raised about $575,000 from the AIDS Walk, a slight decrease from the year before, when it netted just under $600,000.
The money raised from the walk goes back to the clinic, which provides free HIV testing to about 6,000 people per year, and medical services and counseling at a sliding-scale fee for more than 7,000 clients annually.
The walk is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. Saturday with a pre-walk rally at Freedom Plaza, in which several members of the D.C. City Council, along with Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), D.C.'s non-voting representative in Congress, address the crowd.
Serenading the audience with the National Anthem will be Simone Denny, the singer best known for the "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" theme song.
The actual walk is scheduled to take place from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., with at least one openly gay professional athlete scheduled to participate. Roy Simmons, a former offensive lineman for the Washington Redskins, will be among the walkers, York says. Simmons is openly gay and HIV-positive.
The event also is scheduled to include a post-walk celebration at Freedom Plaza until noon.
"When people walk for us, they're walking for their friends and for their families," York says. "Until we have a cure, this walk is absolutely needed."
Art for Life
Three days later, on Tuesday, Oct. 26, the clinic is scheduled to hold its 11th Annual Art for Life auction. Last year, this fund-raiser brought in a record amount of nearly $100,000 for AIDS services and outreach specifically geared toward Latinos in this region.
Bidders will be able to choose from the work of more than 70 artists from around the world who have donated various pieces of art, including paintings, sculptures and photographs. Patrons can place bids in-person on the night of the event, or submit an absentee bid that is available on Whitman-Walker's Web site.
Tickets for the event, which begins with an opening reception at 6 p.m., are $75.
"It's actually one of the nicer events that we do every year," Lewis says. "It's sort of an elegant, fun evening, and of course the money goes to a worthy cause." A Clinic official said Latinos comprise 13 percent of the general population, but account for 19 percent of new AIDS cases.
Miguel Mejia, Whitman-Walker's Latino care coordinator, attributes the disproportionately large amount of Latino AIDS cases to a language barrier and a lack of information about the disease that is aimed specifically at Hispanics.
"The information is not available in both languages," Mejia says. "That makes it harder for services to get into the community, and that's why we have a large number of Latinos finding out they're HIV-positive when they go to the emergency room, because they don't have that information available to them in both languages."
He said other factors include cultural differences and a social stigma in Latino populations about HIV/AIDS.
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