Annual AIDS vigil marked by sadness as well as gratitude

New London - Faces turned skyward in the moonlit night, the 50 participants in the Alliance for Living's World AIDS Day commemoration Tuesday watched a cloud of 110 white helium balloons sail into the atmosphere, bearing the names of the lost loved ones the orbs represented.

"Irene."

"Cindy."

"Remember Philip."

"Jack's beating everybody."

"Isn't it beautiful?"

The balloon launch at Williams Park came midway through the annual vigil, after the group of the agency's staff, clients, volunteers and community members had walked from the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, battery-operated candles in hand. Around their necks they wore several four-foot red ribbons with the first names of the 369 clients who have died over the years from AIDS: "Grace," "Christie," "James," "Jason," "Dave."

Two Mitchell College students interning at the alliance this semester organized this year's vigil, one of hundreds of events taking place around the world to bring attention to the AIDS epidemic. Tameka Rhoden, a senior from Monroe, N.Y., who is majoring in business, said she knew little about AIDS or the Alliance for Living before her internship, but has earned much more than three credits through her experience.

"You walk in there and you feel the love," she said. "This experience has made me more open to new situations."

Earlier this week, Rhoden shared what she has learned about AIDS in a presentation to one of her classes.

"Their jaws dropped when I told them that someone becomes infected with HIV in the U.S. every 9½ seconds," she said. "There's definitely a need for more education."

According to the Centers for Disease Control, there have been 1 million cases since the epidemic began in 1981 and there are currently more than 10,000 people in Connecticut living with HIV/AIDS. In 2008, 745 new cases of AIDS or HIV were reported in the state.

State Department of Public Health data shows that 45 percent of all infections in the state are transmitted through the injection of drugs and 22 percent through men having sex with men. Heterosexual transmission accounts for about 18 percent.

"It is preventable," Sandra Brindamour, executive director of Alliance for Living, reminded the group as they gathered for the vigil at the organization's offices on Broad Street after the walk and balloon launch. "All you need to do is say no or wear a condom. Say no or wear a condom."

Brindamour added that the age groups most at risk of contracting AIDS and HIV are those between 13 and 24 and those over 50. The organization currently cares for 270 people with AIDS and HIV, she said, up from 230 last year, offering assistance with food, housing, medicine and other support services.

"My hope," said A. Gardner Young Jr., president of the agency's board, "is that someday we will see this building being sold because there's a cure and they don't need us any more."

During an impromptu sharing time, Groton resident Margaret Buell, holding her 5-month-old son, Jack, said she wished her parents had had an organization like Alliance for Living. They both contracted the virus through drug habits, she said.

"My mother and father both passed away from AIDS, when I was 9 and 10," Buell said. "I'm grateful to know that now there are places like this. I appreciate all the support."

The woman who followed her to the microphone told how she has the HIV virus and has been ashamed to come to the alliance for help, hiding under a hood when she enters the building. The mother of five children, she contracted the virus from a former boyfriend who has since died, she said.

But she is learning to be less afraid of telling others, she said, and is grateful for the support she finds at Alliance for Living.

"We all need each other, and we all need love," she said, her voice breaking as she wiped away tears. "This program means so much to me. I thank God for this program."

Raymond "Slim" Jones, van driver, cook, facilitator and "jack-of-all-trades" at the agency, told the group he's been living with the virus for more than 20 years.

"I'm doing great," he said. "I do what my doctors tell me, and I just keep pushing."

Jones' co-worker, case manager Annie Stockton, said that over the four years she's worked there, losing clients who've become friends has gotten harder, not easier.

"Miriam, Jose, Johnny B., John W., Henry," she said. "These people I think about every day when I come in here."

The Rev. Frank Silva of the Rock of Salvation Church concluded the program with a retelling of the Gospel story of the Good Samaritan, praising the alliance for its work.

"It's so important," he said, "to be moved by compassion."