Many wore brightly colored t-shirts with team logos. Together, they made up a moving quilt that was just as colorful–and meaningful–as the AIDS quilt displayed on the Morristown Green on Sunday.
Of course, we are talking about participants in the 21st edition of the AIDS Walk.
Laurie Litt-Robbins, executive director of New Jersey AIDS Services, formerly known as the Eric Johnson House in Morristown, estimated that as many as 500 people came to Morristown’s AIDS Walk. When the accounting is complete, she hopes that more than $40,000 will have been raised to support the services her nonprofit provides for 150 clients with HIV/AIDS.
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Last year, NJAS coordinated with organizations from six other areas–Atlantic City, Asbury Park, Camden, Newark, New Brunswick and Ridgefield–to create a statewide New Jersey AIDS Walk.
In addition to raising money, these walks strive to raise awareness.
“New Jersey still has the fifth-highest rate of reported cases” of HIV/AIDs, Laurie said. Some 50,000 new cases are reported nationwide every year, and AIDS claims 17,000 victims annually, she said.
Treatments have improved, lengthening lives. Yet the stigma remains, Laurie said. Some 20 percent of people with HIV/ AIDS don’t even know it, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control.
“People don’t want to know it, or think it won’t happen to them,” Laurie said. “People need to know (HIV/AIDS) doesn’t define them, and it shouldn’t.”
This year’s AIDS Walk coincided with the first Morristown Arts Walk. The events cross-promoted each other, and there is talk of an arts auction to benefit New Jersey AIDS Services.
