RollAIDS expected to raise $3,000
By Monique Sowinski
March 3, 2009 10:40 p.m.
The AIDS Awareness Committee’s annual roller-skating fundraiser “RollAIDS” gets moving tonight in Ackerman Grand Ballroom, inviting students to roll and dance along with music from the ’90s.
“We are going for a Fresh Prince, TLC kind of status for the event,” said Phyllis Huang, co-assistant director of the AIDS committee and a third-year neuroscience student, adding that the ballroom will be transformed to match a “’90s Hip-Hop” theme.
Students can skate in the open rink from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and enjoy live performances from roller-skating performers The Scooby Brothers, hip-hop dance group Samahang Modern and rock band Lady Danville.
Proceeds from the event will go to One Heart Source, a humanitarian organization founded by UCLA Alumni, said Jianya Lin, co-director of AIDS Awareness Committee and a fourth-year MIMG student. The organization sends volunteers to its orphanage in Tanzania where they work with children who are affected by HIV or AIDS.
Over two million orphans live in Tanzania and close to half are infected with the AIDS virus, according to the One Heart Source Web site.
Due to increasing popularity of RollAIDS, the price of attendance rose two dollars since last year to $10, said Huang.
“Last year was a big turnout, and we expect even more this year,” she said. The increase in price would allow more students to skate, which in turn would raise more money for the cause, she added.
In its previous year, RollAIDS raised over $2,000 for One Heart Source and is expecting to raise at least $3,000 this year, Lin said.
The AIDS Awareness Committee hosts two big events throughout the year, RollAIDS and World AIDS Day, Lin said. The committee’s objective is to educate the public about AIDS and the different issues that relate to it, she said.
Through the RollAIDS event, the committee raises awareness about AIDS and assists other programs with similar goals, such as One Heart Source, Huang said.
The idea for One Heart Source began over a year ago, said Brian Hengesbaugh, who is the volunteer program’s manager. The organization broke ground last June when they finished building the orphanage in Tanzania.
One Heart Source also teaches HIV/AIDS education in local schools and created rehabilitation programs for children, he said.
“We are trying to break the cycle of generational transmission of HIV/AIDS in Tanzania,” he said.
The money raised by the RollAIDS event would not only help in paying for the construction of the orphanage and maintaining it but would also be put toward sending out more volunteers this summer, he added.
