Are you ready to walk and rock to bring HIV and AIDS in Baltimore to zero?
In just two weeks, the Baltimore AIDS Walk & Music Festival 2019 will take over Power Plant Live for a day of activities, music, food, and fun in support of HIV and AIDS education, prevention, testing and treatment programs of Chase Brexton Health Care and its community partners.
With the event right around the corner, we asked Clare Elliott, development manager for Chase Brexton Health Care, to share a little bit more about how the event will help end HIV and AIDS in Baltimore, and what’s new this year.
How will proceeds from the event be used?
Funds raised by the Baltimore AIDS Walk & Music Festival will fund Chase Brexton’s new HIV medication delivery service. This new service allows patients living or working near our centers to receive their prescriptions at no additional charge at their home or place of work. Ensuring that our patients can get their medications easily and consistently is a critical part of helping them maintain adherence to their treatment. We expect to deliver more than 5,000 prescriptions annually, and funds raised by the event will ensure the costs of doing so are not passed on to our patients.
What is the Community Partner Program?
We recognize that there are a lot of great organizations across Baltimore doing important work to end HIV and AIDS, and we felt that the AIDS Walk should support their work as well. By signing up as a community partner, local HIV service organizations will be able to keep half of the proceeds their team raises. Our nine community partners prove that this event is truly a citywide effort to combat HIV and AIDS.
What else is new this year?
In a word: everything! We have a new venue, Power Plant Live, right in the heart of downtown Baltimore. Our two-mile walk route loops around the Inner Harbor before returning to Power Plant Live for a music festival featuring three terrific performances by “The Voice” semi-finalist Davon Fleming, the band Nelly’s Echo, and singer-songwriter Shelby Blondell. We’re offering attendees breakfast and lunch, and we have a Kids’ Zone as well as a VIP area.
Why was it important to include the U=U Maryland campaign as a pillar of this year’s event?
U=U is an international campaign spreading the scientific consensus that Undetectable = Untransmittable—a person who is HIV-positive but is in treatment and has an undetectable viral load is not capable of transmitting the disease sexually. This is an enormous development for people living with HIV, and here in Baltimore, the U=U Maryland campaign was formed in partnership with the Baltimore City Health Department to make sure that message is heard loud and clear in Charm City and beyond. The AIDS Walk & Music Festival is a fantastic chance to help boost that message even farther.
Where can individuals sign up?
Visit BaltimoreAIDSwalk.org today to sign up, register your team, and invite friends and family to help you reach your fundraising goals. The website also has full details on incentives for top fundraisers, a toolkit to get you started, and FAQs about the day of the event. We hope to see you at Power Plant Live on June 9th! t
To register for the Baltimore AIDS Walk & Music Festival 2019 or for more information, visit BaltimoreAIDSwalk.org
