LCC physical therapy sophomore Jennifer Boling works with Stacy Miller at the Duck Stop Espresso Bar in the University Bookstore. All Duck Stop employees are donating their tips to the HIV Alliance to help fight AIDS
The University Bookstore’s Duck Stop coffee bar will donate nearly $10,000 in tips collected over the past year to the HIV Alliance for World AIDS Day today.
The money will help the HIV Alliance continue its mission of preventing HIV and providing services to those living with HIV/AIDS in Lane County, said Michele Erickson, the nonprofit organization’s development director. Tips provide about one-third of the alliance’s $256,000 budget — a heavy reliance on the community for support, she said.
“We really want to let everybody know how grateful we are to the Duck Stop,” Erickson said. “We’re just amazed at the contributions from the community that brought that collection to what it is.”
Duck Stop supervisor Stacy Miller said the coffee shop’s employees have never felt right accepting tips when other bookstore workers couldn’t. Each year they donate their tips to a different charity, she said, with housing support service Shelter Care as the 2004-05 collection recipient.
Duck Stop employees will hand over the approximately $9,980 check on Wednesday at 10 a.m. at the bookstore. Looking to set a date for the official donation, the HIV Alliance and Duck Stop chose Wednesday partly because it’s World AIDS Day, Miller said.
About three million people died from AIDS in 2003, according to HIV Alliance statistics. An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS now.
Young people may be particularly vulnerable to HIV infection because of potentially risky sexual behaviors, substance abuse or lack of knowledge about prevention, according to YouthAIDS, an international organization promoting HIV/AIDS awareness. More than 12 million people aged 15 to 24 worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS, according to agency statistics.
University senior Chelsea Reed, who works on the HIV Alliance’s media relations team, said World AIDS Day provides an opportunity to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention.
Students will also be putting up red ribbons on Sixth Avenue in honor of AIDS Day, Erickson said.
“It’s something that can’t be forgotten,” Reed said. “We can’t forget what’s happened here, as well as in the world.”
