Students for Global Health, a two-year-old University student-run group, is observing World AIDS Day by selling beaded pins on campus throughout the week.
The group, directed by student Alex Goodell, works closely with FACE AIDS, a non-profit group from Palo Alto, Calif. FACE AIDS organizes the pin sales through its University chapter.
The pins consist of a safety pin with a beaded square attached to it that forms a red ribbon, the symbol for AIDS awareness. They are made by community members in Kirehe, Rwanda, where women and orphans affected by HIV have created a cooperative, Goodell said. The pin makers are paid for their efforts, about $200 per year, and send the pins to Palo Alto. The pins are then sold by campus chapters around the U.S., Goodell explained.
The pins sell for $5 and can be purchased from any member of Students for Global Health. Flyers and information are available at the group’s booth at the top of the EMU amphitheater.
Proceeds from the pins are sent to FACE AIDS, which gives the money to its associate group, Partners in Health, which has a clinic in Kirehe. Partners in Health creates a privately-funded grant that matches the funds raised by the pin sales, so if Goodell and company raise $5,000, like last year, the grant heading to Rwanda would be $10,000.
The money, Goodell said, goes toward food, condoms, medicine and counseling for community members with HIV and AIDS or other diseases.
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