UCSF Seeks Participants for San Francisco AIDS Walk
More than 200 members of the UCSF community helped raise more than $53,000 in AIDS Walk San Francisco last year.
Faculty, staff, students and trainees are invited to participate in AIDS Walk San Francisco, the annual trek to raise money for HIV/AIDS research, prevention and treatment.
AIDS Walk San Francisco is a 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) walkathon that benefits the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, in addition to several other local AIDS service organizations, including the UCSF AIDS Health Project and the Lesbian Health & Research Center at UCSF.
The event, slated for Sunday, July 19, will begin at 9 a.m. with sign-ups at the UCSF tables in Mothers’ Meadow at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. An opening ceremony starts at 9:45 a.m.; walkers will hit the pavement at 10:30 a.m. Details about the event are posted on the AIDS Walk San Francisco website.
Lydia Derugin, center, formerly of University Advancement and Planning, accepted the UCSF AIDS Walk Trophy for the UCSF Campus team last summer. She is pictured here with members of the UCSF AIDS Walk Steering Committee and representatives from AIDS Walk San Francisco.
Those who can’t make the event can show their support by sponsoring a walker or by buying cookies, brownies and other assorted treats at a bake sale from 8 to 10 a.m. on Thursday, July 9, at Laurel Heights, second floor hallway. Representatives will be on hand to register walkers as well.
“We’re really hoping that the UCSF community will once again rally behind this important initiative despite the economic downturn,” says Lisa Cisneros, coordinator of the UCSF AIDS Walk Steering Committee. “HIV/AIDS affects the lives of people of all ethnicities, genders and sexual orientations.”
Today, more than 1 million Americans are living with HIV, and 24 percent to 27 percent of these people are unaware of their HIV infection, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, the number of people living with AIDS is increasing, as effective, new drug therapies keep HIV-infected persons healthy longer and dramatically reduce the death rate.
Those who join the spirited UCSF contingent regularly ranked as one of the top 10 fundraising teams in the AIDS Walk will receive a complimentary catered breakfast and lunch and get an official UCSF AIDS Walk San Francisco souvenir T-shirt, as pictured here.
“This is a great opportunity for team building,” says Jennifer Dowd, a member of the UCSF AIDS Walk Steering Committee and a manager for Campus Life Services (CLS), who is leading the CLS team. “This is a way to join your co-workers for a good cause.”
Join a UCSF Team
As in past years, UCSF has formed a number of teams that are busy trying to recruit members and raise the most money in a friendly competition to win the UCSF AIDS Walk Trophy, a bronzed New Balance running shoe formerly worn by Chancellor Mike Bishop, MD.
As the top individual fundraiser in 2008, Edgar Micua, who leads the UCSF School of Medicine team this year, received a MacBook laptop donated by UCSF Finance and Administration.
UCSF AIDS Walk participants and the individual who raises the most money also will be eligible for great prizes, including a MacBook laptop, as well as Macy’s, Best Buy, Hornblower Cruises, Mission Bay Foods and Asqew Grill gift cards.
UCSF will be offering members of the campus and community at large who participate in AIDS Walk San Francisco with discounted parking at the public parking garage on the Parnassus campus. From 8 a.m. to noon, a flat rate of $5 will be charged to those who either show their AIDS Walk T-shirts or AIDS Walk San Francisco registration papers.
Members of the campus community can go to this AIDS Walk San Francisco webpage to join one of the following 10 teams:
- UCSF AIDS Health Project (Team 1573), led by Rebecca Gitlin
- UCSF Campus (Team 0094), led by Lisa Cisneros
- UCSF Campus Life Services (Team 1420), led by Jennifer Dowd
- UCSF CMCN (Team 1981), led by Octavio Nevarez
- UCSF Global Health Sciences (Team 7930), led by Robert Mansfield
- UCSF Graduate Division (Team 0096), led by Julia Clark
- UCSF Residents and Clinical Fellows (Team 9921), led by Amy Day
- UCSF School of Medicine (Team 0091), led by Edgar Micua
- UCSF School of Pharmacy (Team 0093), led by Jeffrey Kaminski
- San Francisco General Hospital (Team 9505), led by Regina Glass
Last year, the combined UCSF teams raised more than $53,000 and ranked 10th among the Gold Teams. See this list for Gold Team information.
Edgar Micua, who works for the UCSF Center for Health and Community and leads the medical school team this year, was the top individual fundraiser last year, garnering nearly $3,500 from his friends and co-workers. For his hard work, Micua received a MacBook laptop, which had been donated by UCSF Finance and Administration.
The UCSF AIDS Walk Trophy was awarded to the UCSF Campus team, led by Lydia Derugin, formerly of University Advancement and Planning. Derugin, who served as a member of the UCSF AIDS Walk Steering Committee, accepted the trophy last summer.
Since 1987, AIDS Walk San Francisco has raised nearly $70 million for HIV programs and services in the Bay Area. In 2008 alone, 25,000 participants many of whom were members of more than 900 corporate and community teams raised a near record sum of $4.5 million for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and 58 Bay Area HIV/AIDS organizations.
Related Links:
?UCSF AIDS Walk Coalition Contributes to Successful Event
UCSF Today, July 22, 2008