Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 2, 1993 TAG: 9312020081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CAROLYN CLICK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"We have got to do something to recognize the people who have passed away," said Marsha Aliff, who was diagnosed with AIDS in 1989. "I know so many of them."
Aliff, 38, wept Wednesday as names of the living and the dead were added to the quilt pieced by the local chapter of ABC Quilters. The commemoration was part of World AIDS Day.
The Roanoke Valley AIDS quilt features a gingham mountain and cranberry-red Mill Mountain Star. Individual stars, bearing the names of those who have died from AIDS and those who are living with the disease, were laid on the quilt by family and friends. The stars will be sewn on later.
"We could put 200 stars on there," said Lee Radecke, chairwoman of the Roanoke AIDS Project and HIV AIDS program coordinator for the Roanoke and Alleghany Health Districts.
Radecke said area agencies that work with AIDS patients chose to make the Roanoke area quilt more than a memorial quilt.
"We wanted to honor people living and remember people who died," she said.
Health Department officials say there are about 100 people in the Roanoke area diagnosed with AIDS and about 200 people who are HIV positive. The department's total caseload reaches about 400 cases, including those who come for treatment from out of town, said Johna Moore-Jenkins with the Health Department's HIV program.
Statewide, nearly 5,000 have been diagnosed with the fatal disease and another 5,500 are HIV positive, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
The World Health Organization estimates 14 million people worldwide currently have AIDS. That number is expected to rise to 40 million by the turn of the century.
Mary Clark, local coordinator of ABC Quilters, said her group spent all of November constructing the quilt in anticipation of World AIDS Day.
"We have made about 60 stars so far," said Clark, of Botetourt County. The group also provides quilts for children with AIDS in the Roanoke Valley. Since March 1991, more than 550 child-size quilts have been pieced.
"It really is a rewarding thing," said Clark, who joined quilters Doris Hall of Roanoke and Blanche Murray, Mary Wiley and Carlene Bowman of Botetourt County as their quilt was presented to the crowd.
Prior to the unveiling, about 150 people marched down Church Street to the Roanoke Market to commemorate World AIDS Day.
On the way, they jubilantly handed out the red silk ribbons that have come to symbolize the fight against Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
Amity Dewey, 10, and her 7-year-old sister, Kali, of Floyd were among the youngest marchers. Their aunt, Donna McMillan, is head of the Southwest AIDS Resource and Consultation Center.
Also during Wednesday's ceremonies, Mary Patton, an official with the U.S. Post Office, presented the AIDS awareness stamp to Betty Whittaker, an assistant director at the American Red Cross.
The stamp features the red AIDS ribbon.
Thomas Stokes, youth coordinator with the Red Cross, read a proclamation from Mayor David Bowers commemorating the day and the start of AIDS Awareness Week.
Stokes said his organization will soon begin an AIDS education program directed at African-American teen-agers.
"We have a high teen-age pregnancy rate, which indicates they are not practicing safe sex," he said. "They are still taking a risk. I tell them nothing is a guarantee."
AIDS workers said they are also seeing a sharp increase in the number of women who are HIV positive, both locally and worldwide.
by CNB