Events to Raise AIDS Funding and Awareness

As the number of AIDS cases continues to rise in Ventura County, local health and government officials have declared October AIDS Awareness Month.

A dozen events are scheduled to raise money and awareness about the acquired immune deficiency syndrome, which has claimed 248 lives in Ventura County since 1981.

AIDS Awareness Month will start with a candlelight vigil Saturday, commemorating those who have died.

A total of 393 people have been diagnosed with AIDS in the county since 1981. So far this year, 122 people have been diagnosed with the disease, compared to 61 cases reported last year.

The fastest growing numbers of cases have been among Latinos, women and teen-agers, said Susan Attaway, the director of the AIDS Education and Prevention Committee in the county’s Public Health Services.

“We haven’t been impacted like L.A. and San Francisco have, which were epicenters of the disease,” Attaway said, “but our caseload is growing faster and faster. It’s hard to evaluate the impact based on the numbers we have because AIDS takes so long to develop. Those numbers tell us where we were at 10 years ago, not where we are right now.”

Two of the largest fund-raisers will include an art sale in Camarillo on Oct. 9 and a Mardi Gras celebration in Ventura on Oct. 29.

Proceeds from the Art for Life sale will benefit AIDS Care Inc., a countywide organization that provides support services for AIDS patients. The Mardi Gras celebration will benefit the Christopher House residential-care facility in Ventura. Organizers for the fund-raisers are expecting to raise $30,000 to $40,000 for the two organizations.

Donna Talent, co-owner of Art Illusions, which is helping to organize the art sale, said that about 55 artist have donated work. She added that some of the families of AIDS victims have donated pieces of art in memory of their loved ones.

Camarillo resident Joyce Pistulka’s son Tom died of AIDS on Christmas Eve last year. She donated two of his oil paintings for the fund-raiser.

“I’ve saved a couple of his pieces for myself,” said Pistulka, “but I wanted to put his paintings to good use. Education is the only way to stop this. My son used to go around to schools, and he said just before he died that if he saved just one child’s life it would be worth it.”