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University of California, Davis
students and best friends Liz Johnson and Sarah Yang founded the university’s
Women’s Health Initiative Club in the fall of 2011. The club donated and raised
funds for Woodland’s Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Center (SADVC), and
taught sex education at several Yolo County schools. Parisa Esfahani, a
first-year creative writing major and initiative member, states that, “The
Women’s Health [Initiative] Club focuses on informing the community on women’s
health-related issues, and offering support to women and girls who have been
sexually assaulted.”
Members work with SADVC to volunteer
and raise money for the initiative’s events and for the shelter. They also work
with CommuniCare, a Davis teen clinic, to train club members in presenting
awareness classes in Yolo County middle and high schools on sexually
transmitted infections and birth control. Initiative founders Yang and Johnson
emphasize that the need for sex education is greatest in Yolo County schools;
hence, they want to focus more education efforts there.
Of the 30 club members, three are
males. For the spring quarter, the initiative will coordinate an event called
“Walk a Mile in Her Shoes,” in which men will walk a mile around the city of
Davis in high heels. The public may participate in this event. The national
organization Walk a Mile in Her Shoes will sponsor the event by donating high
heels in men’s sizes to raise awareness for sexual violence. Initiative member
Richard Galvin declares, “I’m planning on getting both the rugby team and my
work at the ASUCD Coffee House involved in this event. I’m also hoping to get
some of the other sports teams on campus to get involved as well.”
The Women’s Health Initiative
coordinated “Baskets of Love” with SADVC in May 2012—at which the women’s
fitness program Curves donated lotion, soap, nail polish, and makeup to
homeless women on Mother’s Day—and sponsored a clothing drive this past winter
quarter for homeless women. Johnson emphasized that the club wants to volunteer
to do something good for the community. She declares, “I think we have really
started something out of nothing here.”
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!
