AIDS Walk

Overview
AIDS Walk is a walkathon fundraiser that raises money to combat the AIDS epidemic. The funds raised from AIDS Walks usually benefit a local AIDS service organization (such as Gay Men's Health Crisis or the AIDS Project Los Angeles), which provide services and advocacy for local community residents who are infected with HIV. They are also often credited for being effective tools of public outreach, community empowerment, and education for the issues surrounding AIDS.

AIDS Walk fundraisers are a primarily American phenomenon due to the fact that the United States has no nationalized healthcare system, and the services provided by local AIDS service organizations may not be otherwise accessible to people who are HIV positive. This makes community support of AIDS service organizations through fundraisers like the AIDS Walk absolutely essential to help prevent the local spread of the disease.

Event
In a typical AIDS Walk, participants walk a predetermined route (usually 5 or 10 kilometers long) through a city or town. Many AIDS Walks have team programs that encourage organizations such as churches, schools, and corporations to participate together. Many events also have opening and/or closing ceremonies which feature speeches and performances by celebrities, community leaders, and politicians.

Fundraising
Fundraising models vary from event to event, but most AIDS Walks encourage participants to raise money by collecting pledges from their friends, family, and co-workers. Some events have a required minimum amount or registration fee, but for many events fundraising is voluntary.

Volunteering
An AIDS Walk event will usually be produced with the help of volunteers. Typically, an AIDS Walk volunteer will assist on an assortment of projects. Some of these projects could include: direct mailing pieces are sent out to registrants, creating fund-raising packages, phone-banking past participants and volunteers to continue their efforts, and many other tasks as needed.

On the day of the event, volunteers can number in the thousands and might perform many different (and necessary) tasks. Volunteers might hand out refreshments to participants, cheer and direct participants along the route and throughout the AIDS Walk venue, assist lost children and other participants, assist team members, coordinate participant sign-in and hand out fund-raising awards for those participants who qualify, assist with an opening ceremony and other staged aspects of the event, assist with communication throughout the venue, and even escort celebrities, elected leaders and other invited guests throughout the day.

History
The first AIDS Walk was AIDS Walk Los Angeles, which took place in 1985, and was produced by MZA Events on behalf of AIDS Project Los Angeles. It took place on the lot of Paramount Studios in Hollywood. Shortly afterwards, MZA Events started producing an AIDS Walks for local AIDS organizations all over the country, including AIDS Walk New York for Gay Men's Health Crisis in New York City, and AIDS Walk San Francisco for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. The model that MZA Events created was has since been replicated widely by local AIDS organizations, and today most major cities in America have AIDS Walk events.

Support
Community-based activism is the cornerstone of organizing an AIDS Walk event. Over the course of the epidemic, there have been many supporters of these events. Celebrities, elected leaders, corporations, religious organizations and churches, schools and universities account for some of entities that have supported AIDS Walks throughout the world.