Hundreds Join Hands to Walk for Life, Fight AIDS

Graced with perfect walking weather, hundreds from around Ventura County gathered on a sunny Saturday morning to hit the pavement. Their mission: congregate as a community and amble en masse to wage their battle against AIDS and ignorance.

The foot troopers included Ed Cox, whose 29-year-old daughter is dying. Sheila Humphries contracted AIDS from her husband, David, who succumbed to the disease three years ago.

Early Saturday morning, before setting out from his Simi Valley home for the Walk for Life AIDS benefit, Cox spoke on the phone to his daughter at her home in Chattanooga, Tenn.

“Sheila wanted me to come out here today and deliver a message: ‘People with HIV need love and hope. We need strong support from our friends and family and our community,’ ” he said.

Attracting more than 750 enthusiastic participants, Ventura’s annual AIDS benefit proved to be one big show of community support. A total of $83,629 was collected, making the 1996 installment the most successful pledge walk in the event’s five-year history, organizers said. The benefit raises money for AIDS Care Inc. and the Ventura County AIDS Partnership, the local affiliate of the National AIDS Fund.

Walkers began gathering at 8 a.m. at the small plaza between Pineapples Restaurant and the Holiday Inn. Actors Bill Paxton and Rob Lowe led a brief but cheerful kickoff ceremony, and by 9:15 the snaking mass of walkers had commenced a 6.2-mile jaunt along the oceanfront promenade.

Cox was joined by a team of about 45 friends and family members, who collected about $4,500 in pledges.

“This is the first walk for me,” said Cox, who recently resigned from his job as an educator with the American Cancer Society. “This is the best feeling I’ve ever had.”

Cox, who was recently asked to sit on the board of directors of AIDS Care Inc., a nonprofit social service agency, said he has dedicated his life to AIDS education and awareness.

“When word got out that my son-in-law and daughter were infected with HIV they lost all of their friends,” he said. “They just weren’t educated. Too many people still don’t realize this disease can affect anybody, anywhere.”

Many of the walkers came prepared for the sunny skies that graced the event. Outfitted in athletic shoes, shorts and T-shirts, several participants were accompanied by their dogs, and a few decided to jog the course.

Mary Douglas of Ventura moved along the course swiftly, pushing her 10-month-old daughter, Sarah, who was riding in a three-wheel stroller. Douglas said she decided to join in the event in memory of friends that she has lost to acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

“It helps the grieving process,” Douglas said. “I lost my best friend. This disease affects everybody, not just one group of people.”

The importance of AIDS awareness was a recurring theme with participants during the walk and a chief reason why “Twister” star Bill Paxton agreed to be the event’s honorary co-chairman.

“I’m here to help bring awareness to our community,” said Paxton, an Ojai resident. “Ventura County is diversified--we have people from all walks of life--and we need to realize that our community is just like others around the world. AIDS is killing our friends and neighbors right here.”

While there were many painful stories told throughout the 2 1/2-hour trek, many walkers wore beaming smiles along the route. United by their losses, strangers bonded to support each other. Whole groups of fund-raisers were spotted walking hand-in-hand or arm-in-arm.

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Hilda Muller of Fillmore returned for her third Walk for Life. She came again to honor her son, Ken Garcia, who died of AIDS complications in 1994. He was 30.

“It is so wonderful to see this huge turnout. This is the biggest I’ve seen yet,” said the Muller, who was accompanied by several friends. “It’s very hard for me to be here, but I will always return as long as I am able. There is so much love here.”

In past years, the walk’s route has been kept to the coastline. This year, however, the course made a right turn near Surfers Point for a jaunt along downtown’s Main Street, returning to the starting point via California Street. For AIDS Care Executive Director Doug Green, the course alteration was symbolic--a testament to the event’s success and growing AIDS awareness.

“It’s a coming of age for Ventura County,” Green said. “We have shifted the event from the beach--from being on the outskirts--to the center of town.”

As walkers concluded the route, they were greeted by rousing applause from those who already had finished. Many danced to the music of a blues band.

The festive mood was interrupted when AIDS educator Doug Halter was asked to speak. The hushed crowd listened intently as Halter recited troubling information about the epidemic:

* AIDS is the No. 1 cause of death for Americans ages 25 to 44.

* More than 300,000 Americans have died of AIDS complications, compared with about 58,000 killed in the Vietnam War.

* It took 10 years for the first 100,000 Americans to die from AIDS; three years for the second 100,000; and 1 1/2 years for the third 100,000.

Halter, 37, of Ventura, ended his speech with an optimistic tone, saying that communities are closer, due in part to events like the AIDS walk.

“Traditional barriers that have divided us have and continue to be torn down,” he said. “People are more compassionate toward each other than ever before.”