So, according to the media, there was a problem in Syracuse, a place I had grown up in for nearly 14 years. Surely with this problem there must have been support groups, billboards proclaiming places to seek help if inflicted with this disease, AIDS walks to help raise money. Yet throughout my entire life living in the Syracuse area, not once had I seen or heard anything regarding the disease in the light of the examples previously given. Maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough or just missed the information on the virus in my hometown, most likely because it wasn’t something that applied to me. Surprisingly, after searching “AIDS” and “HIV” on the Syracuse Post Standard web archives, more than 3,000 articles had hits. After a short time researching, I found an article which made me utterly perplexed. This past June was the 15th annual AIDS Walk/Run in Central New York. It wasn’t this piece of information that bothered me, but that the walk was held annually in my hometown of Baldwinsville (6)! How, after living in this small town for nearly as long as the walk had been established, had I not heard about it? Maybe it wasn’t a big fundraiser, not many walkers/runners, not many sponsors. Upon further examination and going to the walks website, I found their goal for the walk was to raise $150,000 and have over 1,000 participants! After finding this information, I couldn’t help but feel frustrated and helpless. How many other people living in my community didn’t know about this benefit? Why hadn’t I heard or seen anything about this event in the newspaper or on television? Once again, I felt misinformed on a subject where I wanted to make a difference (5).
(Picture taken from http://www.aidscommunityresources.com/aidswalk/syracuse/runners.cfm)