For Immediate Release
March 2, 2007                                                              

CHANGES COMING TO AIDS WALK WASHINGTON IN 2007

21st Annual Walk To Feature Contest for 7th and 8th Graders, AIDS Quilt Panels

WASHINGTON - Whitman-Walker Clinic will make significant changes to the 21st annual AIDS Walk Washington, including adding a poster contest for seventh and eighth graders and a 5K run.

“Given the severity of the epidemic in the District of Columbia, we wanted this year’s walk to involve our entire community,” said ReGina Newkirk, director of development for Whitman-Walker Clinic. “Our goal is 25,000 walkers – one for each person living with HIV in D.C.”

This year’s walk will take place Saturday, Oct. 6. It begins and ends at Freedom Plaza in downtown D.C. and will feature the theme “Put Your Foot Down.”  Area seventh and eighth graders are invited to submit posters that interpret the theme.

“We will choose five finalists out of 20 semifinalists,” Newkirk said. “The grand prize winner will have his or her poster featured in the AIDS Walk advertising campaign on the Metro in the fall. The other four finalists will have their work featured on Whitman-Walker Clinic note cards. All 20 semifinalists will have their work displayed at the walk.”

Students in public, private and charter schools are eligible to enter this contest. Posters must be submitted to the AIDS Walk office at 1407 S St., N.W., by May 1. Details on the contest can be found on the AIDS Walk Web site, www.aidswalkwashington.org.

A $25 registration fee will be added this year and will entitle all participants to receive an AIDS Walk t-shirt. Such registration fees are standard for fund-raising walks and races.

Each year, several people run the 5K walk route. This year, a 5K run will become an official part of the event.

“We hope that holding a separate run before the walk will bring in runners who may not have participated in the walk before,” said Newkirk.

Plans are also under way to display panels of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt at the walk.

“Panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt serve as a reminder of the human cost of the HIV/AIDS epidemic,” said Newkirk. “We want to remind people that behind all of the numbers and statistics are human beings whose lives and the lives of their loved ones have been forever changed.”

Established in 1973, Whitman-Walker Clinic is a non-profit, community-based provider of health care and social services in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. Through three sites, in the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia, the Clinic offers primary medical and dental care; mental health and addictions counseling and treatment; HIV education, prevention, and testing; legal services; case management; and a food bank. Whitman-Walker Clinic is committed to meeting the life needs of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community and people living with HIV/AIDS. 

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