Help stop the spread of AIDS
Raising awareness about AIDS in our community

Jessica Maurice | staff writer
jmaurice2@smcvt.edu

The sound of beating drums, whistles, and hundreds of voices couldn’t be missed Saturday, Sept. 29 on Church Street as the AIDS walk fund-raiser, organized by Vermont Committee for AIDS, Resources, Education & Services (Vermont CARES), took step for the 11th year.

Activists for the AIDS walk go down Main Street. Jessica Maurice, photo

A “family affair”

Marching along with her two sisters and husband was 45-year-old Laurie Wells of Burlington, the fund-raising captain for the team of four.

“It’s really a family affair,” Wells' sister, Kerry Cameron says.

Wells’ team has raised the most money out of all the fund-raisers.  This year, they raised $1,275, she says.

Wells and her team work hard to raise money to support Vermont CARES.  Most of the organization's motivation to walk comes from Wells, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1991.

“People think because of the drugs prescribed to people with HIV/AIDS that it’s manageable so they don’t think they need to help,” Wells says, “but there are many people like me, who are resistant to the drugs.”

Wells works full-time at the Howard Center for Human Services, but Wells says she is often severely tired due to the medications she is on and from HIV in general.  Without work she wouldn’t have the insurance she needs to pay for the high cost of HIV medications, she says.

This year, St. Michael’s Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC) focused on getting contributions from the Student Association (SA).  Catherine Cook, a senior member of SGAC, wrote a proposal to the SA informing them about why Vermont CARES needs the money after the tremendous cuts in government funding.  The proposal was a success and the SA agreed to give one percent of its entire budget to the local organization, a total of $4,800.

Vermont CARES raising awareness         

From the steps of Burlington’s City Hall, holding a microphone, Executive Director Peter Jacobsen of Vermont CARES announced the walk had raised at least $8,000 that will go toward food for shelters and testing.  More than 200 walkers showed up Saturday in an attempt to raise awareness and raise money for AIDS. 

Posters are scattered throughout the crowed to help spread awareness. Jessica Maurice, photo

“We need people like you coming out every year and helping this cause,” Jacobsen says. “HIV is still something that is affecting our neighbors and we need to support them.”

Jacobsen wore his yellow T-shirt, displaying “Champ Ride” across the chest, Vermont CARES largest fund-raiser.  While the walk does not raise as much money as some of their other fund-raisers, it raises awareness in the community, he says.

“It gets the word out there that HIV/AIDS is a very local issue and not just an overseas issue as the media sometimes portrays it to be,” Jacobsen says. 

In the countries surrounding Burlington, there are at least 145 people carrying the HIV/AIDS virus, according to Jacobsen. 

Associate Professor Patricia Siplon, of the political science department at St. Michael’s College, participated in the walk for the fifth year. 

“Most of my AIDS-related work focuses on developing countries,” she says. “Sometimes I forget the important work going on in my own backyard.”

Siplon says that by taking part in the walk, it is a good reminder to support the work that Vermont CARES is doing locally.

Effects of cuts in funding

In the past three years, Jacobsen says that the government has continued to cut Vermont CARES' budget.  This year, the effect of those cuts had a huge impact, she says.  Vermont CARES lost two staff positions because they could no longer afford to keep those people employed, and now fewer people must do more work for the same pay.  Vermont CARES no longer has the funds to cover advertisements for events such as the AIDS walk; this year it was dependent on word of mouth, Jacobsen says.

St. Michael’s and University of Vermont (UVM) both offer the organization known as SGAC.  Siplon is one of St. Michael’s SGAC advisers.  Senior Shaleen Crowley is the leader of the club.  This summer, Crowley visited Tanzania on a service trip through St. Michael’s. For three weeks, she stayed with girls from ages 7 to 18 in an orphanage. Most of the children found themselves there because their parents had died after contracting the AIDS virus. 

“Three out of the 33 girls had AIDS and were being treated,” Crowley says. “It was hard coming home and not knowing what would happen to them.” 

The AIDS walk makes it way down Church Street. Jessica Maurice, photo

Crowley says that after her time spent in Tanzania, she feels a personal relationship to the campaign and raising awareness about AIDS. 

Jacobsen says: “St. Michael’s was a huge help this year in securing that one percent from their SA; we really needed it.”

Dixie O’Connor, Wells' sister, expressed the exhausting routine of fighting HIV.

“When you’re faced with HIV and you feel defenseless, you have to do something active,” she says.  “This was a positive thing, a way to feel like we are making a difference and doing something about this disease.”


Since finding out she was positive with HIV, Wells has tried a variety of medications during the past 16 years.  Currently she takes a handful of drugs every day, a combination of three different types.

“We’re running out of options,” Wells says. “It’s really frustrating how some people think we can be treated with the meds and live comfortably.  That’s not the case for me, and I’m not the only one out there.”