Homage for victims, hope for future.

Byline: Serena Markstrom The Register-Guard

Candles in plastic cups floated in the fountain at Eighth Avenue and Oak Street but couldn't hold their flames during a rain-soaked World AIDS Day event sponsored by the HIV Alliance on Thursday evening.

The 50 or so people in attendance and a men's choir, however, didn't have trouble keeping their candles' flames alive as they huddled together under an outdoor shelter to support those living with HIV and AIDS and to remember those who have died.

Event organizer and HIV Alliance board member Jerry Jacobson said that in the past, the event has been held indoors. But seeing the candlelight outdoors, he said, "is just kind of special."

HIV Alliance Executive Director Diane Lang made remarks focused around the theme of this year's World AIDS Day: "Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise."

She said in 2005, 3 million people in the world will have died from AIDS.

"It's almost impossible for us to fathom 3 million deaths in one year," she said, noting it's the same amount of people as if 90 percent of Oregon's population were to die in a year from a preventable disease.

Seven of those 3 million who died were clients at the HIV Alliance. Lang recounted a few details from each of those people's lives. A 13-year-old girl born with HIV got braces donated by a local orthodontist. Lang said little made this girl happy, but her braces did. She died when she was 15.

Taking time to remember unique lives lost, Lang said, reminds and inspires her to keep trying to fight AIDS.

"We can stop AIDS if we keep our promises," Lang said. World AIDS Day is also about action. So Lang encouraged those in the audience to make a promise to help in a way that fits into their lives. "Your help is desperately needed. This is the humanitarian crisis of our generation."

The Eugene Gleemen sang spiritual selections throughout the program, beginning with "Zion's Walls."

Next came the lighting of the candles, where participants were encouraged to light theirs from the wick of another.

Gil Avery, a retired priest who had a good friend die from AIDS, introduced the portion of the program where different people stood up, told of their connection to HIV/AIDS and read names of people who have died from AIDS.

"We say their names out loud to honor and remember them," Avery said. According to the HIV Alliance, every six days in Lane County someone becomes infected with HIV.

CAPTION(S):

Participants of HIV Alliance's World AIDS Day event brave cold and wet weather to attend the observance as the Eugene Gleemen sing. W o r l d A I D S D a y