Dear Friend:

I realize you know me as a little bit strange. Good! Maybe you will not see this letter as something too strange from a friend.

This past several months I have been privileged to make the friendship of a couple I hold dear. She is 38 y.o. with AIDS and he is 44 y.o. with HIV (AIDS). Each has had the disease for over a decade. Suddenly I received an education I was not really previously open to receive. You are probably knowledgeable of some of the statistics, but I won't go into it here. I can't recite them from memory anyhow. But when you take it out of the statistical arena to someone you love and care about, you can see how widespread and evil the pain can be. It is not just the disease (that's a relative cakewalk) but it is everything that goes with it: Crazy changes in how and when you can eat; the yearly cost of tens of thousands of dollars for medicine to not just get better but to stay alive; waking up each day with the realization that you might today get an opportunistic infection and be dead within months; the concern of the burden you might place on friends and family; the rejection and misunderstanding of the disease by people who love to misjudge; the reality that your whole life (friends, jobs, entertainment, medical appointments, money) is embraced by the disease. When you look at it on a personal level it takes on a whole new dimension, a dimension that hurts anyone with a heart.

These are people who perhaps made no mistake or made one mistake, perhaps more (thank God none of us did that) who for the rest of their lives are living somewhere between Purgatory and Hell. Many have no support system, depending on kindness for food and clothing...not just to be happy, but to exist! The gentleman of whom I wrote earlier gives about 170 talks a year to High School students so that they might have a better grasp of the tragedy and how easy it is to unwittingly get the disease. I know their Mom and Dad are grateful for that. Here in Colorado Springs we have what we call A Walk in the Garden, (It is held in what we call The Garden of the Gods…a beautiful red rock garden) to raise money for their medical, financial and emotional needs and to help them gain self-sufficiency. This is admittedly not in your community. This is mine. However, if you can see yourself clear to make a generous donation for the Walk, I would take it as a personal favor and would be very grateful. I will do the walking. You might also think of the Aids/HIV program in your own community if you live outside Colorado Springs. 

If you are O.K. with it: to make a donation you can send it to me or preferably go online to http://www.firstgiving.com/raymondhill

Thanks for giving this your consideration. I love you all, Ray

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS DONATED:

(Checks donated offlne)

1. Donald and Geraldine Sidor  -  $100.00
2. Marty Olsen  -  $25.00
3. Jim Jones  -  $100.00
4. Mr. and Mrs. Greenwood  -  $41.00
5. Marica Hill  -  $100.00
6. Eileen Bell  -  $10.00
7. Herm Ratner  -  $10.00
8. Bernie Gerrity  -  $100.00
9. Carl and Eileen White  -  $100.00
10. Bill Peloso  -  $100.00
11. Chris and Lisa Wigley  -  $100.00
12. Steven and Cheryl Hopkins - $30.00
13. C's Billing Service - $20.00