AIDS Walk to draw thousands for the cause

As part of the efforts to avoid new cases of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome infections and to improve the lives of those affected by the disease, the International AIDS Empowerment and AIDS Project El Paso will be conducting its 18th annual AIDS Walk El Paso charity event.

The 5K competitive run/fun walk will take place from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Oct. 22 at Memorial Park, located at 1701 N. Copia St.

The money raised during the event will go towards community-based non-profit organizations that assist people affected by AIDS.

"The state and federal government are coming down on the funding," said Antonio Muñoz, chair of AIDS Project El Paso. "We need to get the community involved. There's still a bad stigma about this disease in El Paso."

AIDS Project El Paso is a non-profit organization, primarily composed of volunteers, that helps individuals who have been diagnosed with the disease. Around 95 percent of the money granted to AIDS Project El Paso goes back into the community.

Muñoz said receiving support from the El Paso City Council has been difficult.

"We had Emma Acosta one year who helped us out, and when it came down to the time, she refused to even answer the calls," Muñoz said. "We did get Mayor Cook to help us two years ago. He was in the walk, but he couldn't wait to get out of the place. He walked halfway."

According to a Texas HIV/STD surveillance report from the Texas Department of Health, 1,263 El Pasoans were living with HIV/AIDS in 2006.

Carlos Salais, director of AIDS Walk El Paso, said many people in the city and the nation think of HIV/AIDS as being a "gay" disease. He urged people to reject that type of mentality and keep an open mind, since the disease can affect anyone. He encouraged people to get tested and educate themselves on the disease.

"We try to reach out to the community through the different agencies that we have," Salais said. "We try and empower the people to go and get tested, to get knowledge and know their status."

Salais said over the years the support for the fight has grown. Much of the credit, he believes, is owed to UTEP students.

"The first two years I participated in the event, we were lucky. We had 100 people show up to the event. Last year, we decided to run things a little bit different," Salais said. "I do believe if it were not for students, we probably would have had the same amount of people from previous years. We went from an increase of 150 people to 600."

Salais said he expects to see the number of participants double for this year's event.

This will be the second year UTEP's MPO (Medical Professions Organization) participates in the event. They understand the cause of the event and feel it is a responsibility to support it.

Lori Berumen, junior biological sciences major and member of MPO is participating in the project.

"Being a pre-med in MPO, this event is so crucial to our understanding of medicine," Berumen said. "We feel it is important to help discover a cure for it and also to help those that are already living with this disease."

For more information or to register, contact Antonio Martinez at 915-590-2118 or visit internationalaids.org.

Kristopher Rivera may be reached at prospector@utep.edu