AHF: 10th Florida AIDS Walk Raises Over $1.2 Million

Citizens and businesses in Fort Lauderdale took part in the 10th Annual Florida AIDS Walk and Music Festival hosted by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and presented by AHF Pharmacy. The March 22nd 5K procession kicked off at Fort Lauderdale’s South Beach Park and was followed by a live concert headlined by Grammy award-winning female rap group Salt-N-Pepa.

As in years past, AHF encouraged local AIDS service providers to utilize Florida AIDS Walk as a platform for their own independent fundraising—with AHF absorbing all fundraising costs. In addition, AHF is matching the money raised by participating South Florida AIDS service providers. This brings the total raised for these organizations to over $165,000:

• SunServe (sunserve.org) – $65,464
• Latinos Salud (latinossalud.org) – $39,344
• Broward House (browardhouse.org) – $22,592
• The Pride Center at Equality Park (pridecenterflorida.org) – $18,192
• SAVE (savedade.org) – $10,886
• The Poverello Center (poverello.org) – $8,478
• Mount Olive Development Corporation (mountolivemodco.org) – $540

“While each Florida AIDS Walk is spectacular in its own way, we’re truly humbled to celebrate this milestone and express our sincere thanks for the local community’s support over the past ten years to keep attention and resources directed towards people living with HIV/AIDS in South Florida,” said Mark Martin, AHF’s Regional Director of Community Relations and Development in Florida, who plans the event each year.

The funds—and awareness—raised, were particularly crucial: According to the Centers for the Disease Control (CDC), Florida ranked first nationally in the number of newly diagnosed HIV infections in 2013, with Miami-Dade and Broward counties reporting the highest number of HIV cases in 2014, respectively. The CDC estimates that 110,000 people are currently living with HIV/AIDS in Florida.

To view a highlight reel of the 10th Anniversary Florida AIDS Walk, visit: http://youtu.be/TsnAD4xo4oA

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to nearly 367,000 individuals in 36 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare