Auraria laces up for AIDS walk
Team raises money for AIDS education, prevention
by Maggie McMahon
Photos by Danny Holland
The Metropolitan
HIV/AIDS News & Facts
- The currently accepted theory of the origin of AIDS is that it came from a particular species of chimpanzee. It is thought that the disease was transferred through blood contact from hunting and field dressing.
- December 1st is World AIDS Day.
- Every six seconds someone new is infected with HIV.
- In the United States, an estimated 800,000 – 900,000 people are infected with HIV/AIDS.
- As of December 2000, in the United States, 744,467 cases of AIDS were reported to the CDC. Of this number, 448,060—or 58 percent—have died.
- An estimated 16,371 died from AIDS in the U.S. during 2002. That is nearly 45 people per day.
Source: Centers for Disease Control – CDC
The Auraria AIDS Walk team fielded more than 60 participants who raised more than $5,000 for HIV/AIDS prevention and care services in the 17th Annual AIDS Walk Colorado at Cheesman Park, Sunday Aug. 22.
“The Auraria AIDS Walk team is here to help raise money for AIDS prevention, education; to celebrate with each other, and to enjoy the team spirit generated by the eveSnt,” said La Donna Garcia, vice president of student services for Metro.
(Photos by Danny Holland - The Metropolitan) An estimated 8,000 Coloradans marched in support of AIDS awareness, education, prevention and research Sunday, Aug. 22 at the 17th Annual AIDS Walk Colorado.
Wearing blue T-shirts designed by Crystal Trujillo and featuring the Tivoli, the Auraria AIDS Walk team joined an estimated crowd of 8,000 on the green lawns of Cheesman Park.
Auraria has sent a team to the AIDS Walk every year since 1989, according to participant Steve Mascaro, reserve librarian at the Auraria Library.
Mascaro lost a brother, who was a 40-year-old Hollywood choreographer, to AIDS in 1992. The local paper in the hometown of Mascaro’s brother, Casper, Wyo., refused to publish an obituary because, according to Mascaro, “nobody in Wyoming gets AIDS.”
Since 1989, Mascaro has been among the top fund-raisers and marched in AIDS Walk Colorado every year but two; he missed one year due to a broken ankle and another because his brother was dying. 
“Almost everyone here has been touched personally in one way or another,” Garcia said.
“I had a very close family member die of AIDS about 10 years ago,” said Billie Marie, a CCD student who participated in the walk. The walk is “something I always wanted to do.”
Marie said lots of people lose loved ones to AIDS and that her walking was a way to show her support.
“I had a family friend who died (from AIDS) more than 12 years ago,” said Metro student Richard Zamora, who participated and was also the student representative for the AIDS Walk from all three schools at Auraria.
The top five Auraria team fund-raisers shared $500 worth of prizes.
Mascaro and Metro emeritus student Dorothy Hicks were the top two fund-raisers.
AIDS Walk Colorado, the largest HIV/AIDS fund-raiser in the Rocky Mountain Region, benefits the Colorado AIDS Project and more than 30 other AIDS service and education providers, according to Amy Tekansik, public relations representative for CAP.
This year’s walk is expected to raise more than $800,000, which is about half of the $1.4 million raised in the late 1990s at the height of public awareness of AIDS/HIV and before the economy went into a recession, Tekansik said.
According to statistics from CAP, HIV/AIDS currently infects an estimated 15,000 Coloradans, 800,000 Americans living in the US, and over 40 million people worldwide. 
Metro students LaDonna Garcia, SGA vice president for Student Services, Rob Meyers, Candace Gill, SGA president turned out as part of the Auraria AIDS walk team to help raise money.
Over half a million Americans have died of the disease, and the rate of new infections in the US increased in 2003 for the first time in 10 years.
The lack of education about HIV is more dangerous than anything, according to Grand Marshall Carly Jibson, current star of Broadway’s “Hairspray.”
With infection rates on the rise, the AIDS pandemic is not expected to peak worldwide for another 50-60 years, according to CAP.
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