FACE AIDS holds awareness week

The AIDS memorial quilt, consisting of more than 40,000 panels, remained on display in the Lavin-Bernick Center.

The Tulane chapter of FACE AIDS hosted its annual FACE AIDS Week Nov. 30 to Dec. 3.

The week included events designed to raise awareness of the AIDS epidemic in both the United States and Africa.

“Our mission is to inspire and mobilize students to fight AIDS in Africa,” chapter leader Danielle Levy said. “Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day, so we always try to hold our week around that time.”

The week’s events included a screening of the film “A Closer Walk,” free HIV testing, an African dance class Wednesday and an honors roundtable. The speakers scheduled to speak Tuesday about living with AIDS canceled because of the cold and rainy weather’s potential effect on their condition.

Several panels of the AIDS memorial quilt were on display all week in the Kendall-Cram ballroom of the Lavin-Bernick Center. A national AIDS organization began sewing the quilt in 1987 and now features more than 40,000 12’ by 12’ panels.

The group also helped promote the HIV-AIDS Music Project, a music festival at the Howlin’ Wolf that raised funds for local AIDS organizations.

One of the main ways the group raises money is by selling pins made by Africans who are affected by AIDS. The $5 donation is sent to the Partners in Health Clinic in Rwanda, which works to provide all types of healthcare, including AIDS treatment.

“With every pin is the pin maker’s story,” Levy said. “You see their face and read a little bit of their story. It brings the epidemic closer to home.”

Members of FACE AIDS said they joined the organization to help raise awareness of an issue that is important to them.

“I’ve been involved since freshman year,” fundraising chair Heather Farb said. “I got started because I knew the girl who started the club. I just really liked the cause.”

FACE AIDS educator Ali Doppelt said the organization works to inform students about the extent of the epidemic.

“We try to give people information about not only New Orleans, but about the world, so they know where their money is going,” Doppelt said.