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Positive Champions Speakers Bureau
(PCSB) members and Daytona Beach residents Jeff Allen, Mary Bennefield, Omar
Mayes, and Cindy Maldanado traveled to Washington to attend the 19th
International AIDS Conference.
On the second day of the conference,
the PCSB members were among the thousands who marched outside the Walter E.
Washington Convention Center in support of people living with HIV/AIDS. Allen,
one of PCSB’s founders, said it was important “to show our officials in
Washington that we are a force to be reckoned with, that we have determination,
and that our voices are powerful and our vote is strong.”
“We are tired of the poor,
disenfranchised, and disabled persons being taken advantage of, being unfairly
treated as a citizen, and furthering the disparities from within our
communities even more,” Allen said. “White, African American, Hispanic,
Pan-Asian/Asian, Caribbean, Native Americans, all communities banded together
with one common theme: We can end AIDS.”
Allen said one of his biggest
concerns is HIV/AIDS complacency among young people. “We need to teach HIV
education within our public school systems, beyond abstinence. The younger
generation is seeing people living longer with HIV and therefore don’t see it
as big a threat as it was in 1981 and shortly thereafter,” he noted. “I have
been talking to my nephews about HIV since they were nine years old or so.”
PCSB members give talks in schools,
to businesses, health care professionals and civic organizations, and at
detention facilities - wherever they are asked to provide AIDS education and
help address disease-related stigma. For more information about the group,
visit www.daytonaspeakersbureau.com.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
