Cap. City AIDS Fund: New Year, Vital Mission

By Stuart Eldridge, CCAF President

The Capital City AIDS Fund (CCAF) wishes you and yours a happy 2010! We have many exciting things planned for the new year. Our glitzy annual “Oscar Night® Sacramento ” gala is just around the corner. The event is a fun and glamorous evenening, but we gather for a serious reason–to raise money for people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. 

CCAF was created in 1995 to raise much-needed money and distribute funds to HIV/AIDS service providers. At the time, competition for dwindling dollars was fierce. We stepped in to unify the community and stage events to raise money. 

Today, agencies that provide care for people with HIV/AIDS are being hit with massive government cutbacks and that makes our job even more important. We’ve also stepped up to the plate by providing scholarships to college students living with HIV/AIDS and have embarked upon an aggressive and successful prevention/education campaign. 

Knowledge of HIV/AIDS has greatly increased since the disease was first making headlines. Advances in drug treatments have changed AIDS from an automatic death sentence to a chronic, lifetime disease-yet sometimes still fatal. These advances have improved lives, yet may be instilling complacency among the younger population. 

Many seem to believe that drugs “cure” AIDS. But they don’t. Additionally, the therapies for AIDS are very expensive and many times followed by painful side effects. Even with proper treatment, people with AIDS are still dying. While the virus is 100% preventable, new infections are still occurring, especially among young people and in communities of color. It is a sad reality. 

We believe that building awareness is the first step in battling this disease. No one has to get AIDS today. Again, it is a preventable disease. If people are educated about risky behaviors and safe sex, diseases such as HIV/AIDS could be eliminated. Awareness and prevention, that’s our mantra.  

Please support Oscar Night® Sacramento. You can make a difference by helping people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. You can make our world – right here in Sacramento – a better place. Thank you for caring.

For more information about the Capital City AIDS Fund or how to participate in Oscar Night® Sacramento, contact the CCAF office by phone at (916) 448-1110 or by e-mail at capcityaidsfund@yahoo.com or visit www.capcityaidsfund.org.