AIDS Walk Boston

AIDS Walk Boston is a walkathon fundraiser hosted annually in Boston, Massachusetts to benefit AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts (AAC), New England's oldest and largest not-for-profit AIDS service organization.[1]

AAC's mission is to stop the epidemic by preventing new HIV/AIDS infections and optimizing the health of those already infected.

About

Event

AIDS Walk Boston is always held on the first Sunday in June. It begins and ends at the DCR Hatch Shell on the Charles River Esplanade, with the actual route following a 10K path through the cities of Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge.

Concurrent with the Walk is the Larry Kessler 5K Run, a 5K race along the banks of the Charles River. Awards are given out to the winners of each age group.

Upon completion of the Walk, participants are welcomed back to the DCR Hatch Shell with the Wellness Festival, a celebration of healthy living.

Online Community

AIDS Walk Boston has an online community to connect and communicate with participants in a variety of different ways.

Volunteering

AIDS Walk Boston relies on the help of hundreds of volunteers. These volunteers perform a number of different duties, such as handing out snacks and refreshments, taking pictures, and directing walkers along the route, to help serve over 10,000 participants for AIDS Walk Boston and the Larry Kessler 5K Run every year.

Fundraising

Fundraising is the central focus of AIDS Walk Boston. Participants are encouraged to engage in peer-to-peer fundraising, and are given many different tools to do so, including a personal fundraising page and a Facebook fundraising application. AIDS Walk Boston also works with corporate sponsors who support the programs and services of AAC and form teams to do fundraising of their own.

History

AIDS Walk Boston was started in 1986 as a grassroots community event. AIDS Walk Boston 2010 will be the 25th annual Walk, and it will be held on June 6, 2010.

Some important milestones in the history of AIDS Walk Boston:[2]

Since the beginning of AIDS Walk Boston, over 200,000 people have participated, raising over $30 million total for the programs and services of AIDS Action Committee.

External links

Notes

  1. AEGiS, http://www.aegis.com/countries/us.html 02 Sept 2009
  2. "AIDS Walk Boston History," http://www.aac.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AIDSWALK_history, 02 Sept 2009
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