Today is World AIDS Day

The Portland Intercollegiate Rotaract Club is sponsoring a World AIDS Day community event today, Dec. 1.

The college-age organization affiliated with Rotary International is arranging student volunteers from Portland State and Lewis & Clark College to collect donations on both campuses to support the Cascade AIDS Project.

“We hope to spread the word that AIDS is still prevalent around the world,” said Kasia Chaberski, a sophomore at Lewis & Clark and president of the Portland Rotaract Club.

Rotaract volunteers can be seen distributing packets of condoms on campus, as well as red ribbons and AIDS fact cards.

“We are also campaigning on both campuses for students to wear red,” Chaberski said.

The World AIDS Day actions will conclude with an educational event in the Smith Memorial Student Union Ballroom. The event will include speakers, art, a fashion show and other music and entertainment.

According to the Rotaract Club, more than 20 student volunteers are participating in the project.

This is the 21st-annual World AIDS Day since the World Health Organization established the day in 1988.

According to CAP, more than 1.1 million Americans live with HIV, 600,000 have died in the U.S. so far and 250,000 are estimated to be infected by the virus and not know it.
 

World AIDS Day event at Portland State
Speakers, music, art, skits, entertainment and fashion show
6 p.m. today, Dec. 1
SMSU Ballroom
$5 general admission, $3 students

Other events throughout Portland

Global Health Week
9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Linfield College’s Portland campus
2255 NW Northrup St.
Featuring various speakers, exhibitors, artists, musicians, restaurants
Fundraiser for the Oregon Student Nurses’ Association and
Linfield’s chapter of Nurses Without Borders
Contact: Kinara Brocius, 503-819-1922

Falsettos In Concert
7:30 p.m.
Presented by Live On Stage
World Trade Center Theater
121 SW Salmon St.
$5, half of which to be donated to Our House and Cascade AIDS Project
Contact: John Oules, 503-280-5483

AIDS Day Walk
9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Columbia-Willamette Women of Vision’s AIDS Walk for Orphans
715 SW Morrison St.
Start at Pioneer Square, walk toward Pearl District, loop back to Portland State and end at Pioneer Square
Contact: Jill Sherman, 503-407-5024