WORLD AIDS DAY: December 1st

By Marion Bunch, Rotarians for Family Health and AIDS Prevention (formerly RFFA)

World AIDS Day 1 December holds special meaning to me. I lost my second born child, Jerry, to AIDS early in the American epidemic (1994). At that time, the disease was so stigmatizing, I felt quite lonely not being able to discuss Jerry’s illness with anyone outside my family. I never thought I’d do anything about it until one day, three years after his death, I felt a tap on the shoulder and a voice in my ear said “mom, get up and get going, you haven’t done anything, and it’s been three years.”
It was an epiphany of a moment that completely altered the course of my life.

In 1998, I was propelled into taking the first step to begin a project in my Rotary club. The fact that our club president said ‘yes’ to my idea made me a passionate Rotarian for life!  From the start, I realized that finding partner organizations in the field of HIV/AIDS would be important because Rotarians are not AIDS experts. I created a partnership program with a local AIDS service organization whereby together, we provided AIDS education in the middle schools of Georgia. This sobering program has now been seen by 450,000 students!

Read about Marion’s incredible journey at http://blog.rotary.org/2012/11/28/rffha/

World AIDS Day is 1 December. Rotarians For Family Health and AIDS Prevention brings together Rotarians committed to fighting this disease and promoting family health. With disease prevention and treatment one of Rotary's six areas of focus, find out what you can do to help.