A group of college students committed to helping African children with AIDS held a fundraiser Saturday.
Keep a Child Alive is a national organization that works to raise money to provide medicines and other assistance to African children with AIDS. A group of students at the University of Central Arkansas recently formed a local chapter.
Shanna McCormick organized Saturday's car wash, which was held at the parking lot of Back Yard Burgers.
"It only takes $1 a day to provide these kids with the medicines they need in Africa, where the AIDS epidemic is the worst," she said. "It's bad all around the world, but it's worst in Africa. A lot of it is because of resources. Here in the West, it's easy for us to have access to health care or to get some type of help, but they can't necessarily do that."
She said 8,200 people a day worldwide die from AIDS, and there are 15 million orphans in Africa due to the disease.
"It's not even 30 years old, and it has killed 28 million worldwide," she said. "It's wiping out whole societies. It's not any color; it's not any certain type of people. It does affect all of us. Until we can have educated discussions about AIDS, we're not going to be able to help each other."
She said discussions are not always easy "because it's an STD (and) sex is a taboo topic in a lot of cultures."
For college chapters of Keep a Child Alive, $365 is the minimum goal, McCormick said. The UCA chapter has only been organized since May, and they have not set a fundraising goal yet, she said. However, she pointed out the car wash was going well on Saturday. In the first hour, they had raised $100.
"Most people are just giving us donations, so that's good," she said. "A lot of times people feel guilty about charities. We don't want people to feel guilty about giving. We want it to be fun.
"A lot of these people with AIDS are strong. They live normal lives. They're just happy to live another day."
She reiterated while the organization's focus is on Africa, AIDS affects people everywhere.
According to the organization's Web site, Grammy-winning recording artist Alicia Keys is the global ambassador for Keep a Child Alive and has built a clinic in Durban, South Africa, which provides not only medical treatment but also counseling, legal aid and women's empowerment groups.
To learn more about Keep a Child Alive, visit www.keepachildalive.org.
(Staff writer Rachel Parker Dickerson can be reached by e-mail at rachel.dickerson@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1277. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)
