Story by Leah Kennedy
Photos by Blake Hamilton
On the morning of May 15 when most college students were just rolling out of bed, a sea of red was forming in Eugene’s Alton Baker Park. Red balloons flanked every available structure, red flags stuck out of the ground, and red ribbons graced the shirt of every toddler, parent, and college student in attendance at the HIV Alliance’s RiverWalk 2010.
More than 100 people came out Saturday to raise awareness and remember those who have lost their lives to the disease. The HIV Alliance Development Coordinator Melissa Adelman couldn’t stop smiling as she spoke about the event and her work with the HIV Alliance.
“HIV/AIDS never went away. People just stopped talking about it,” Adelman says. “Until there is a cure for HIV/AIDS, we have to continue educating others about the risks of contracting HIV. If the awareness that is created through RiverWalk prevents even one person from becoming infected or it helps one person feel less stigmatized because of their status, then RiverWalk has been a huge success.”
During the event, local drag queens dressed in sparkling red dresses mingled in the crowd while other attendants participated in an art project coordinated by the University of Oregon’s Circle K International group. The project consisted of writing a personal motive for participating in the RiverWalk, attaching it to a red flag, and sticking each flag into the ground to form a large red ribbon.
Following registration and the art project, the HIV Alliance Executive Director and Volunteer Coordinator addressed the crowd about the importance of volunteers and their organization. Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy made the final speech of the morning before leading participants in the two-mile walk along the Willamette River.
RiverWalk once drew crowds of almost a 1,000 people, lasted an entire day, and raised around $30,000. However, the event grew too ungainly to manage and had to be canceled in 2008, says volunteer and University of Oregon student Alex Chu. Even with the news, however, more than 40 people came out and walked. The event was brought back in 2009 but at the smaller scale it remains at today.
“We went through some major transitions in the way we raise funds, and events like RiverWalk took up too much staff time to organize,” Adelman says. “Once we scaled it back, we realized how important this awareness event was to many of our supporters. It was natural for us to continue hosting it, with a new focus on awareness about HIV/AIDS rather than fundraising.”
- Both Adelman and Chu spoke of expanding the event in the future by bringing together more people affected by the disease and raising more money for the HIV Alliance.“In the future, if there was a change I could implement it would be that the walk should return to its former state as a large event,” Chu says. “I think it’s a good thing for this community.”