World AIDS Day

Angela and I with two of the Compassion Bears collected by Hollywood UMC during the Christmas season.

Today is World AIDS Day. According to the event's website, "World AIDS Day is held on 1 December each year and is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died. World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day and the first one was held in 1988."

And while I do not personally know anyone who has died of AIDS, I know plenty of people who are HIV positive, some friends, some I've met at my work with 5p21 - the AIDS hospital in downtown Los Angeles. And I've met many kids at the children's AIDS hospital as well. Each year our church delivers teddy bears, aka Compassion Bears, that have been taken home and loved and prayed over and sometimes dressed up, to the children's hospital in December. We collect money and toys to take as well. Some of my best holiday memories of Los Angeles involve going to the hospital with a huge carload of presents and feeling like Santa Claus, carrying them up the three flights of stairs to the office where they'll be kept until they're delivered. No, we don't personally give the toys to the kids but that doesn't matter, it's still an awesome experience knowing that these children will get something extra special this year whether their families can afford something or not. 

I've been a member of the AIDS committee at my church since the first month I moved to Los Angeles. I was drafted, so to speak, after volunteering to make sandwiches one day. It's a small committee and I love everyone who serves on it. We have a great time making lunches once a month and passing out sticker ribbons a few times a year, the bears every advent season, and collecting the toys. Truly, I am so blessed by the opportunity I've had to help and to give and to learn. Before I moved to California I didn't know anyone who was HIV positive. I didn't know that it's okay to kiss and hug people with AIDS or to share meals with them or to do just about anything I'd do with any of my other friends. I was sheltered and uneducated but that quickly changed. There's stigma attached to all disease, I'm aware of that - whether it's cancer or AIDS or diabetes or migraines. But by reaching out, by praying, by loving, we can make a difference.