The Yuma County AIDS Network plans to celebrate the 15th anniversary of its annual World AIDS Day vigils with an evening of memories, prayers and words of hope Monday.
Organizers say they offer the candlelight vigils as a way for people affected by AIDS to come together in a safe place, to remember loved ones and to call attention to a serious disease.
"This event is for everyone affected or infected with AIDS," said Erica Messer, chairwoman of the Yuma County AIDS Network. "We just try to make this a real comfortable, relaxing event where people can just come together. The vigil is also a chance to let people know that this disease still affects a lot of people and we can't just hide. We need to let everyone know that we still need to work hard."
Dec. 1 is when people around the world observe World AIDS Day.
The candlelight vigil is set for 6 p.m. at Sanguinetti Park, 8th Avenue and 22nd Street just west of Yuma's main post office.
Eighty people attended the network's vigil last year. "We get a lot of new faces every year," Messer said, adding the people's reasons for attending the vigils always vary. "The reasons are just personal, I think. People have maybe lost a child to AIDS or they have been touched by AIDS in some other way."
The keynote speaker this year will be Becky Brooks, director of the Yuma County Health Services District. Sheriff Ralph Ogden will also read a special proclamation.
A performance will be given by the Yuma Youth Choir, directed by Beth Tibbs.
Instead of releasing balloons bearing hand-written messages, people attending this year's event will be given colorful people-shaped cutouts for writing a person's name, sharing a memory or writing a short prayer. People will be invited to decorate the ramada with their cutouts, which will later be laminated and used again in next year's celebration.
Spiritual aspects of the vigil will include a nondenominational prayer read by Paul Gambling with Hospice of Yuma, plus a moment of silence. The event will also include a candlelight walk around the perimeter of the park.
Messer added that the vigil also gives the network the chance to educate the community about its members' many services, ranging from free HIV testing and support group services.
The Yuma County AIDS Network meets on the second Wednesday of every month from noon to 1 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Center. For more information, call Messer at 210-3470.
Darin Fenger can be reached at
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