Registration is now open for the 28th annual AIDS Walk Boston & 5K Run, which will be held June 2, 2013. The Walk & 5K Run draws 10,000 to 15,000 participants and is AIDS Action’s largest annual fundraiser. The Walk is 6.2-miles long. The 5K Run is a competitive, timed event, and is fully sanctioned by the USA Track & Field Association. The AIDS Walk & 5K Run will begin and end at the DCR Hatch Memorial Shell on the Charles River Esplanade in Boston. Registration and check-in begins at 7:30 a.m. The Walk begins at 10 a.m.; the 5K Run begins at 9:50 a.m. WCVB-TV Eye Opener Newscaster Randy Price will emcee the event, which also includes a Wellness Festival. Participants can register for the AIDS Walk & 5K Run atwww.aidswalkboston.org. There is neither a registration fee nor a minimum funds raised requirement in order to participate in the Walk. The 5K Run is $25 to register. AIDS Action expects to raise approximately $1 million from participants.
“The money raised by AIDS Walk and 5K Run participants is critical to our ability to connect people with health care, peer support, counseling, free HIV testing, housing and fuel assistance, and legal services,” said Rebecca Haag, President & CEO of AIDS Action, who walks each year and contributes personally to every AIDS Action employee who walks or runs. “We urge everyone in the Boston area to join us or donate to the thousands of walkers and runners who do participate. Since 1999, we have helped reduce new HIV diagnoses in Massachusetts by 53 percent. This means that nearly 6,000 people who might otherwise have become HIV positive have remained negative, and the state will save more than $2 billion in HIV-related health care costs.”
Corporate sponsors of this year’s AIDS Walk and 5K Run include Macy’s, Bristol-Myers Squibb, EMD Serono, Whole Foods Market, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Partners HealthCare, Eastern Bank, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, PharmaHealth Pharmacy, Jet Blue, and Polar Seltzer. This year’s media sponsors are WCVB-TV 5 and El Planeta. Additional sponsorship opportunities are still available. Call Jacoba van Heugten at617-450-1512 or email jvanheugten@aac.org.
The AIDS Walk was first held in 1986 and is one of the first walks to be introduced in Boston, as well as the country. The 5K Run was added to open up fundraising to runners. Historically AAC’s largest fundraising event, it has raised over $38 million for programs and services to support those living with and at risk for contracting HIV/AIDS.
