Host of Bay Area events held for World Aids Day

By Elizabeth Daley, Bay City News Service

November 30, 2006

In commemoration of World AIDS Day, Bay Area organizations will be hosting a variety of events on Friday that expose the impact AIDS has had on the global community while educating the public about the disease.

In an event sponsored by the AIDS Project East Bay, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, D Oakland, will be publicly tested for HIV to highlight the importance of testing and stop the spread of AIDS in the African American community. Lee's test will take place at 9:30 a.m. at 499 Fifth St. in Oakland.

In San Mateo County, the San Mateo Medical Center will host a commemorative event at 11 a.m. featuring a display of quilt panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt and addresses by Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson and community members whose lives have been affected by HIV and AIDS. The event takes place from 11 a.m. to noon at the San Mateo Medical Center, 222 W. 39th Ave., San Mateo.

In San Francisco, Jeanne White-Ginder, mother of Ryan White, will be speaking at 12:30 p.m. at the Commonwealth Club at 595 Market St. Since her son contracted HIV as a result of hemophilia treatments, White-Ginder has become a tireless AIDS activist.

At 2 p.m., a portion of the "Names Project" AIDS memorial quilt will be on display in Marin County at St. Paul's Episcopal Church at 1123 Court St. in San Rafael and travel the county throughout the day.

The San Francisco AIDS Foundation will be holding a forum called "Renew the Promise. End AIDS," at the Koret Auditorium in San Francisco's Main Library at 100 Larkin St. The program will begin at 3 p.m. and will discuss the future of the epidemic in scientific terms. Panelists include HIV policy experts and a representative from the Centers for Disease Control.

The AIDS Research Institute at the University of California at San Francisco will be holding a jazz concert at 7 p.m. at 1675 Owens St. at 16th Street in San Francisco. The concert will feature Spencer Day and Heather Lauren.

In commemoration of World AIDS Day the Museum of the African Diaspora will kick off its "Shopping with Consciousness" campaign featuring fair-trade items made in Africa to be sold at the museum store. A portion of the proceeds will benefit orphans living in South Africa with HIV and AIDS. A Bay Area father-daughter team established a program that employs skilled South African women who would otherwise work as porters, to create beautiful one-of-a-kind blankets that will be sold in the museum store.

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