SUNY Cortland's Ribbon Fundraiser Promotes AIDS Awareness

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SUNY Cortland's AIDS Prevention and Awareness Club and Eta Sigma Gamma, the College’s health education honor society, are teaming up for a fundraiser to benefit the Southern Tier AIDS Program.

CORTLAND, NY (11/24/2014)(readMedia)-- SUNY Cortland will go red during the first week of December in support of World AIDS Day, which takes place Monday, Dec. 1.

The AIDS Prevention and Awareness Club (APAC) and Eta Sigma Gamma, the College's health education honor society, are teaming up for a weeklong fundraiser that community members easily can rally around. In exchange for $1 donations, the groups will provide red ribbons in three campus dining facilities throughout the week.

Ribbons will be sold Monday, Dec. 1, to Friday, Dec. 5, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. in Neubig Hall and outside the food court in Corey Union. They also will be sold 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Hilltop. Auxiliary Services Corporation (ASC) will make it possible for students and employees without cash on them to donate $1 using their Cortland IDs.

The Southern Tier AIDS Program (STAP) in Johnson City, N.Y., will receive the collected donations.

"All of the money raised will go directly to them," said Jena Nicols Curtis, an associate professor of health and faculty advisor of APAC. "And we already have the ribbons, so there's no cost to hold the fundraiser.

"We're really excited to do something to help STAP because they do amazing things for people in our community."

STAP's services include HIV testing, counseling and housing assistance. SUNY Cortland's donations will support Robbie's Pantry, which provides toiletries for HIV/AIDS patients. The service is named after Robert Carro, who died from the disease in 2005.

"Most of our clients live below the poverty line, which makes donations crucial," said Mary Kaminsky, the director of development for STAP. "This time of year, when people are paying for a lot of things, those donations become even more crucial."

More than 1.1 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV, including roughly 180,000 who are unaware of their infection, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The weeklong fundraiser is just one of the regular events that APAC and Eta Sigma Gamma support. Throughout the year, APAC stages events to promote safe sex and the importance of sexual consent, while the honors society educates on topics such as obesity and nutrition.

For more information about the fundraiser, contact Curtis at jena.curtis@cortland.edu.

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