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Hi, I'm John Hanawalt, captain of Team Freddie Mercury. My team and I are walking in AIDS
Walk Boston, a 10K on June second to raise much needed funds for the fight against ***/AIDS
in Massachusetts.
Now, I know what you're thinking. Why would anyone volunteer to wake up early on a Sunday
to walk? I'll give you five good reasons why, and I hope that by number five you will go
to aac.org/goto/jhanawalt and sponsor me orTeam Freddie Mercury.
Number One: I mean, really. Isn't it time we ended ***/AIDS? Organizations globally
are working towards and AIDS-free generation, and in Massachusetts, we've reduced new ***
diagnoses 59% since 1997. Imagine ending ***/AIDS in Mass and setting an example for the rest
of the world.
Number Two: One way we can help stop the spread of *** is by treating people who are already
infected. The *** Prevention Trials Network study 052 showed a 96 per cent reduction in
the risk of transmitting *** to a negative partner when the ***-positive partner starts
treatment early.
Which leads to reason number three:
People can't get treated if they don't get tested. The CDC estimates that 60 per cent
of young people living with *** don't know it. That's 60% of young people living with
*** not getting the care they need and potentially passing it on to their partners without even
realizing it.
A donation of just $30 can provide one of those youth with a rapid *** test and get
them connected to care.
Reason number Four: No one else is going to do this for us. Between 2010 and 2012, the
state's ***/AIDS budget was reduced by over five million dollars. If you don't give, that money for AIDS Action Committee's
life-saving services isn't coming from somewhere else.
And my fifth and final reason for sponsoring Team Freddie Mercury is: we're so damn cool.
Freddie Mercury was the coolest guy in recorded history, and we lost him to ***/AIDS.
It's time to stop losing cool, talented people to a disease that can be beat.
And even though Team Freddie Mercury is so damn cool, we're not *** counselors or caseworkers
or outreach workers. So we're trying to raise ten thousand dollars for the people who are
so they can do this very important work.
Sure, I could take out my sizable checkbook and write a ten thousand dollar check; but
imagine how much more powerful it would be if that money came from smaller donations
made by family, friends, and strangers with hearts of gold. Even if you can't give much,
your donation of ten, twenty, or thirty dollars can be part of something much larger that
literally saves lives.
And if you can spare $30 or more to support this cause, Team Freddie Mercury will send
you one of these awesome Rockstar Ribbons so everyone else knows what a rockstar
you are in the fight against ***/AIDS.
So there are my five reasons why I'm doing AIDS Walk Boston and why I want you to sponsor
me. I hope I've convinced you. If I have, go to aac.org/goto/jhanawalt to sponsor me
or aac.org/goto/tfm to sponsor one of my teammates or to join Team Freddie Mercury yourself.
Thank you, and I'll see you June second, 2013!