World AIDS Day: Miami

Dec 2nd, 2008 12:32 PM UTC
By Field

The City of Miami recognized the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day yesterday with a candlelight memorial and tree lighting ceremony at the Miami Riverside Center. ONE volunteers participated in the event to help raise awareness, educate and motivate people to continue to fight the disease.

The event began with an invocation by Reverend Raymond Carvil, Sr. and featured several speakers including Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, Ed Resto from the Jackson Health System and Lillian Rivera, Miami Dade County Health Department Administrator.

After the tree lighting and candlelight vigil we had an opportunity to speak with Mayor Diaz and his staff. We talked about the goals of the ONE Campaign and thanked them for their commitment to raising awareness locally about HIV/AIDS and the devastating impacts of the disease.

We also talked to Commissioner Joe Sanchez about ONE’s presence in Florida, some of our recent activities in the area and our efforts to engage local leaders to help us raise awareness about extreme poverty and preventable diseases like HIV/AIDS. We gave him a ONE shirt and look forward to future meetings with his office.

By the end of the night we had passed out all of our wrist bands and made many new friends who share our commitment to fighting AIDS. With a collective voice, we believe that we can motivate our leaders to do more in the fight against poverty and HIV/AIDS.

-Sara Paterni

TAGS: Florida, From ONE Members, Miami, World AIDS Day