Advice from an AIDS Hero of the Year

My name is Jolene Valla-Cate and I do volunteer work with families who are affected and/or infected with HIV/AIDS. I have been doing this for a year now. Recently, I won the Hero of the Year Award, which the Pediatric AIDS Foundation gives out once a year to five different people. It is a nationwide search for people who make a difference in their community concerning HIV/AIDS. I feel very honored and privileged to have received such an award, which was given to me in New York while being interviewed with Mrs. Elizabeth Glaser on Channel 2’s CBS Morning Show.

I would like to tell you more about the program I’m involved in. The program is called Baby Buddies and Friends Inc. Baby Buddies is basically a support system for families affected and/or infected with HIV/AIDS. If they need us to help them with housework, we do housework. If they need a baby sitter, we baby-sit. If they need a shoulder to cry on, we’re that shoulder. Being a Baby Buddy is being a friend and a confidant, and it is very fulfilling to feel needed and know that you can help. What we do is very important in the process of giving hope to live. When dealing with HIV/AIDS we need to realize that everything we do affects the children.

Discrimination is a big factor when it comes to AIDS. I have even faced discrimination myself. People don’t want to sit by you or hug you. Please, do not be ignorant like this, because it is proven fact: You can’t get AIDS from a hug! The only way you get AIDS is through sex and/or transmission of blood. As Elizabeth Glaser once said, we all have an attitude toward AIDS! It is up to us whether that attitude is a positive one or a negative one.

It is a proven fact that self-worth has a lot to do with living longer or dying sooner. It is our responsibility to encourage, not discourage. You may think that one won’t make a difference, but you have no idea how much of a difference one person makes. I hope and pray that I have made and will always make a difference, because I know in my heart it is my responsibility to do so. I believe that to be a strong leader, we need also to be a servant. These children need you. Please help them.

To volunteer, call:

* Pediatric AIDS Foundation

(310) 395-9051

* Baby Buddies and Friends Inc.

(714) 775-7568

* L.A. Pediatric AIDS Network

(213) 669-5619

JOLENE VALLA-CATE (16)

San Pedro