Perform For AIDS Walk In Fort Lauderdale
By Deon C. Jefferson
As the world tries to manage and control the growing cases of Covid-19, there is still an illness that continues to be an issue, HIV/AIDS. The AIDS Walk and Music Festival was cancelled in 2020 due to the influx of Covid-19 cases. This year’s comeback festival was sponsored by AHF and Wells Fargo. The event took place on Fort Lauderdale South Beach. The entertainment for this year was handled by Deep Fried Funk Band, Trina, and Hip-Hop Queen Lil Kim was the headliner.
“I’ve been coming to this event for five years”, says Broward resident Tobi Jordan. “It’s always great to see how many people show up to support. There are never any issues or drama. It’s always like family when I come here. This year was different because so many people have been quarantined for a year.”
The AIDS Walk and Music Festival has been in existence for 16 years. Each year, a monetary goal is set, and they work hard to achieve it. This year, the goal was $1.5 million, Before the 5k started, $1.7 million had been raised. All funds that are raised for the event are matched dollar-for dollar by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Funds raised will benefit seven different local nonprofit organizations that supply HIV/AIDS education, treatment, and prevention services across the surrounding metro area. Organizations that will benefit from the funds will be SunServe, Latinos Salud, The Pride Center at Equality Park, World AIDS Museum and Educational Center, AHF, Save Foundation, and Equality Florida Institute.
“We are so appreciative of the tremendous support of so many individuals and corporate partners who continue to rise to new heights to ensure the continued impact of the Florida AIDS Walk & Music Festival, “stated Michael Kahane, AHF Southern Bureau Chief. “Even in the midst of our community addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, we are still seeing an increase in new HIV diagnosis. The walk not only provides critical funds to continue the fight against HIV/AIDS, but also brings awareness around the HIV epidemic and its impact on our community.”
Productional and special event band, Deep Fried Funk kicked off the entertainment portion of the afternoon. The Broward County based band warmed up the crowd with songs like “Just Fine” by Mary J. Blige, “Shape of You” By Ed Sheeran, and “I wanna Dance with Somebody” by Whitney Houston. DFFB also took the crowd on a hip-hop journey with a medley of classic old school songs. Next, Miami’s own Trina wowed the crowd as she breezed through some of her songs from her long career. Trina has been a hip-hop staple since 1998, so performing fan favorites like “F-Boy”, “Here we Go”, “Single Again”, and “Look Back at it”, are always special treats for her fans. Hip Hop royalty, Lil Kim took the stage as the headliner, and she did not disappoint. She performed hip hop bangers like “Lighters Up”. “Ladies Night”, “Lady Marmalade”, and “How Many Licks”. The crowd went crazy when her daughter Royal Reign came out to dance with her. Lil Cease from Junior Mafia also came out to perform “Crush on You”. Lil Kim ended her set by performing the remix to “Money Power, and Respect” that features the late DMX. She also held a moment of silence for DMX, Black Rob, and Shock G.
The AIDS Walk is an event that is beneficial to South Florida. According to recent statistics, Florida comes in third among the fifty states in the number of new HIV diagnoses. The two countries that rank the highest in the state for new diagnoses are Broward and Miami Dade. In Florida as a whole, more than 115,000 people live with HIV. This number represents 13 percent of all the cases in the US. As you can see, there is tons of work to do to keep the spread down, so when the pandemic shut down operations last year, AHF knew they had to come back harder in 2021.
“It feels incredible to be back. In essence, this event is all about community”, says Kahane. “It’s really hard to have a sense of community through zoom, working from home, or staying in your little pod. So, the fact that we are here, and we’re doing things safely, and allowing the community to gather together means everything to our organization.”
Altogether there was $1.9 million raised for the beneficiaries. Other sponsors for the Aids Walk include Office Depot, LabCorp, ScriptMed, Ameritech Solutions USA, Converge One, Centra Healthcare Solution and Parata. AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 1.5 million individuals in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe.
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