World AIDS Day

Engage your campus this World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day is Monday, December 1. It has traditionally been a great opportunity for Acting on AIDS groups to create broad awareness on their campus and within their community. In 2009, World AIDS Day falls on the Monday after Thanksgiving, which may seem tricky to organize an activity. It is possible, though, and we encourage every campus to get involved! Below is a list of ideas to engage your campus this World AIDS Day. As always, we invite you to be creative, develop new ideas (and share them with the national group!), and take action together to commemorate World AIDS Day!

Lives Are at Stake

Lives Are at Stake is Acting on AIDS’ signature event for World AIDS Day. Campuses will order free picture cards, depicting children from areas with a high prevalence of HIV, laminate them, and display the pictures on stakes or on clothesline in a prominent area of campus. This display serves as a memorial of the impact of AIDS on orphans and vulnerable children. Participants are invited to take a child's photo and commit to spend time praying or reflecting for that child throughout the day. To order your photos, e-mail the quantity you'd like and your shipping address to actingonaids@worldvision.org.

Lives are at Stake. A student reads the story of a child who has been affected by the global AIDS pandemic during the World AIDS Day activities at Seattle Pacific University.

Want Less/Give More Campaign

We seek to engage in advocacy based on four pillars of engagement: social, political, spiritual, and economic. Since World AIDS Day falls at the beginning of the Christmas season, we invite members of the Acting on AIDS network to participate with us in economic advocacy through the "Want Less/Give More" campaign. The goal is to think critically about our spending habits and to become more conscious consumers and generous givers during the holiday season and beyond. Watch our Web site in October for more information. We want to journey together to transform the way we think about our God-given resources and begin to cultivate a sustained response of more deliberate and God-guided stewardship.

Advocate

Thanks to your advocacy efforts last year, the U.S. government passed the Global AIDS Bill, which allocated $48 billion to prevention, treatment, and care for global AIDS, TB, and malaria. It also includes 10 percent for orphans and vulnerable children. Our advocacy is still needed, though, to ensure the government actually allocates these funds to implement the Global AIDS Bill. In the coming weeks, we will make our advocacy petitions available online. We encourage you to invite students to respond, using their voices to amplify the voices of children vulnerable because of HIV and AIDS.

Local Events or Create Your Own!

Local Events: World Vision is organizing activities in some major cities around the U.S., such as Chicago and Boston. If you live around one of these cities and would like to get involved, contact us and we'll get you connected!
Create Your Own Event: We encourage you to creatively explore what you can do on your campus and in your community to commemorate World AIDS Day. Please let us know what you are doing, so we can share it with the network. Other campuses may join with you!

And lastly, be sure to check out and show our "Rhythms of Life" video on YouTube: