Support AIDS Walk Los Angeles and our team. Heck, join our team if you want!

Copy and paste the below link and support us in the walk.

https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=169465&lis=1&kntae169465=27FE522A9FA744D9880E7B9F8651E5E2&supId=148623337

or go to www.aidswalk.net and click "Los Angeles" then "Sponsor a Walker" then type in my name "Tom Whitman"

More about why this is important to me:

Some of you might know that I recently joined the Board of Directors of AIDS Project Los Angeles, which is the main recipient of funds raised at AIDS Walk Los Angeles.

I've produced events and supported APLA for a long time, but recently decided that it was time to really put my time and effort behind it. I was honored when they asked me to be on the Board, and I'm taking my commitment to them very seriously.

I had my first APLA board orientation this week, and it..s been an
amazing and inspirational crash course that has really reminded me
about how much I believe that we need to actively give back to our
community. It has also been really inspirational learning more about
the specifics about the work that APLA does.

--

Here are some of the interesting facts that I did not know.

34% of the development money raised by APLA comes from the annual AIDS
Walk LA. That..s huge. It is the single largest revenue generator for
APLA, by a long shot. Without AIDS Walk LA, APLA would not be able to
function. And APLA is the largest AIDS service organization in Southern
California, and one of the three largest in the country.

Right now, APLA is adding 200 new clients per month. That is the
largest monthly increase EVER. Even when the epidemic was new, APLA was
not adding clients at that rate. Only a couple of years ago, APLA only
had 30 new clients added each month. Of course, there are new clients
all the time, because the epidemic is not over. But part of the reason
for the current rapid increase is that many smaller AIDS organizations
have closed their doors because of lack of funding. For instance, LA
Shanti closed its doors after more than 20 years of providing services
to people with AIDS. And those clients have to go somewhere.

Some random facts that you might or might not know: Half of all new
infections in the US occur in people under 25. More than a million
people are living with HIV in the US.

And, one final personal sidenote. Over the course of the next year, I..m
making two commitments to myself about giving back. First, for APLA,
I..m committing to try to raise $60,000 through events that I create,
and by recruiting new donors. That..s a huge amount, but I..m going to
make it. Second, I..m committing to donate 5%-10% of my annual income to
charity and cause-related issues in our community. Those are scary
commitments to make, but I want to put my money where my mouth is.

And I hope by putting my money where my mouth is, I'll spur other people in our
community to do the same. Because that is one reason why I am proud to
be a member of our community. We are cohesive when we care about more
than just our individual selves. We are a better community when we
inspire each other to make a difference.

So join us. Or support us. It will make a difference in someone else's
life, and hopefully yours as well.