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News Release

November 15, 2006

U of G Marks AIDS Awareness Week

The University of Guelph is hosting several events to mark AIDS Awareness Week Nov. 20 to 24. The events are organized by Guelph AIDS Awareness Partnership (GAAP), a campus-wide group that includes Student Life, the Wellness Centre, Student Housing Services, Alumni Affairs and Students for Masai.

“I’m hoping AIDS Awareness Week will motivate people to start making a difference,” said Deanna Chin, a fourth-year biological sciences student and co-chair of Students for Masai. “From the politician that makes AIDS a priority on their political agenda to the child who donates their birthday money to AIDS research, we should all do what’s in our power to help.”

On Nov. 20, GAAP will chalk the campus with AIDS awareness messages. The Wellness Centre will have an information table in the University Centre and will be selling red and white handmade beaded bracelets for $5 as part of the University’s Masai Project: For Africa, for AIDS, for Hope. U of G aims to raise $100,000 on campus as part of a larger community effort by local doctor Anne-Marie Zajdlik to raise $1 million for an AIDS clinic in Lesotho.

Students can stop to receive AIDS-related information and free hot chocolate in Branion Plaza Nov. 21 from noon to 3 p.m., and the canon will be painted with an AIDS theme.

On Nov. 22, volunteers from the Wellness Centre will be on hand at the Bullring to give AIDS information from noon to 5 p.m. There will also be talks by invited speakers from the AIDS Committee of Guelph/Wellington.

GAAP will host dinner and a movie Nov. 23 at 6 p.m. at the Eccles Centre in South Residence. A Closer Walk is the first film to depict humankind's confrontation with the global AIDS epidemic. More than 50 women, men and young people from Uganda to India to New York City are interviewed or profiled in the film.

Students, staff and faculty are invited on a Walk Through Campus Vigil Nov. 24 at 12:30 p.m., starting at the cannon. Also on Nov. 24, the Students for Masai will hold a “Party for Hope” starting at 8 p.m. at Van Gogh’s Ear in downtown Guelph. Three bands will play until 2 a.m. Admission is $4, and all proceeds will go to the Masai Project.

For more information, visit www.studentlife.uoguelph.ca/citizencommunity/gaap.cfm or send e-mail to gaap@uoguelph.ca.