NYCAAP Students Walk To Fight AIDS
NYCAAP Students Walk To Fight AIDS
By Bridie Rubino
On Sunday, May 20, Newtown High School students involved in the Newtown Youth Creating AIDS Awareness for Peers (NYCAAP), participated in the 10 Kilometer AIDS Walk New York.
Supervised by director, Jan Brooks, about 45 NHS students traveled to Central Park to walk for AIDS. The event had celebrity supporters in attendance including former NSYNC band member Lance Bass, actor Alan Cumming, singer Cyndi Lauper, and actress Whoopi Goldberg.
The day began at 9:30 am with a short aerobic workout sponsored and run by New York Cityâs YMCA. Until 11:30 am, the crowd grew to over 45,000 participants as the sponsors and celebrities spoke about AIDS and their reasons partaking in the walk. The mood remained a steady upbeat feeling of excitement.
The 10 kilometer path was lined with thousands of people filing through and cheerleaders, literally, on the sides encouraging the walkers to keep going strong. Sponsors such as Hint Water and PepsiCo provided food and drink donations along the route to keep the participants from being hungry or dehydrated on the 80-degree afternoon.
The NYCAAP walkers wrapped up their day at around 3:30 pm after discovering the amount of money raised was already as much as $6 million. By the end of the day, the total AIDS Walk New York raised $6,857,527, with over $2,300 from NYCAAP donations.
NYCAAP is still accepting donations for AIDS Walk New York. Checks can be made out to AIDS Walk New York and sent to Newtown Youth Services at 10 Glen Road or NYCAAP. There is also a donation website at www.aidswalk.net/newyork/ where donations can be made to the general donation page or to any NYCAAP memberâs name such as Bridie Rubino, Erin Baier, Katie McNultey, Jan Brooks, and Bobby Davenport.
NYCAAP is a nonprofit organization that is sponsored by Newtown Youth Services. They are also involved in peer education in which students go to the Newtown Middle School and share their knowledge of AIDS in the health classes. There are other charitable events that NYCAAP takes part in, such as visiting AIDS and HIV patients at hospitals, as well as buying gifts for them during the holiday season.