LAKE COUNTY – Community Care HIV/AIDS Project Drop In Center's AIDS Walk will take place this Saturday in Clearlake.

The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Austin Park Resort.

Keynote speakers will be Supervisor Denise Rushing and Dr. Marshall Kubota.

Community Care HIV/AIDS Project Drop In Center is a non-profit program serving the HIV community for more than 20 years.

In this time of limited resources and skyrocketing costs of basic human needs such as food, gas and utilities and housing, the AIDS Walk hopes to raise an emergency fund to help clients who may otherwise fall through the cracks.

The center also wants to expand the food cupboard that clients can shop once a month. The food cupboard is experiencing record usage and the center's monthly gas vouchers barely cover enough for clients to make their doctor appointments.

As reported in the press, there has been an underreporting of AIDS statistic, with an additional 45,000 added to numbers since 2006. One of the highest reported AIDS cases is among young people ages 15 to 24. Women and especially African-American women also represent inordinately high numbers. Families need to talk about these issues and make AIDS a part of the national dialog.

Folks are invited to sign up for the AIDS Walk in corporate groups of four for a $25 fee and many of those groups get sponsors. You do not need a sponsor to walk laps around the beautiful lakeside at the resort.

A registration fee of $5 is all that is required to walk the half-mile path and you can walk as many laps as you wish. All donations are going to a worthy cause – a self-help endeavor.

Many community organizations will be represented with vendor booths and tables, giving the event an air of family fun. Water tables will be set up around the walk path.

There will be great musical entertainment by Lefty and the Clearlake Oaks Community Choir.

The Department of Public Health will be there offering free and easy HIV testing to the public. There will be quick and easy swab tests that will render fast results, along with counselors on-site. Free condoms and life-saving information will be abundant.

Donations will be gladly accepted in the name of loved ones affected by HIV or AIDS. Checks should be made out to Community Care AIDS Walk.

For more information, visit the Community Care Web site, www.communitycare707.com/events.html, or call Michelle White or Ken Young at the center, 995-1606.

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