ACR Health’s annual AIDS Run/Walk was back in person this year after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Anytime you get folks to rally together for a cause, you know you’re doing something great,” said K. Daniel Reed, director of prevention community initiatives at ACR Health.

“Well, I just heard it was the 30th one and I wanted to come back and do it again,” 5k racer Kevin Sexton. “And I think it’s a good way to raise funds to pay for vital services for people with AIDS and people affected by it.”  

ACR Health is a nonprofit organization that provides services to individuals affected by a wide range of chronic diseases, including HIV and AIDS. 

“Knowing that AIDS has been around for 41 years and still there is no cure,” 5k racer Jim Spignardo said. “There seems to be a focus that’s been lost due to a lot of other things that are going on in the world today. This still needs to have some focus until there is a cure.” 

The run and walk is also bringing awareness to the Black, brown and LGBTQ+ communities who have been disproportionately impacted by the disease.

“Many of the lessons we learned during the aids epidemic are also vitally important during COVID,” Lisa Alford, executive director for ACR Health said. “For example, using data to determine who are the groups and what are the barriers that make certain areas or communities disproportionately impacted by certain things.” 

The hope is to not only bring awareness but to get people involved.