On each weekend between May 14 and June 12, thousands of Canadians will take part in the Stride to Turn the Tide national fundraising walk, as an act of solidarity with grandmothers raising grandchildren orphaned by AIDS in Africa.
The second annual walk will unite nearly 240 grandmothers' groups in communities across the country, including here on the Sunshine Coast, in an effort to raise awareness and funds to meet the needs of African grandmothers through the Stephen Lewis Foundation's Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign.
"As governments have withdrawn their financial backing from Africa during the recent financial downturn and, in particular, for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, it is critical that we stride forward in solidarity and continue to raise money for these innovative and groundbreaking grassroots organizations supported by the Stephen Lewis Foundation," said Pam Farron, Stride to Turn the Tide chair in a news release. "African grandmothers are burying their children, who have died as a result of HIV/AIDS, and taking on responsibility for their grandchildren and other orphaned children in the community. They are the unsung heroes of the pandemic and we will not rest until they can rest."
The inaugural walk, in 2010, raised nearly $400,000 benefitting grassroots organizations funded by the Stephen Lewis Foundation in sub-Saharan Africa, where an estimated 14.8 million children under the age of 18 have lost one or both parents to AIDS. The programs these organizations have developed at community-level recognize the needs of African grandmothers and offer support in forms such as nutritious food, housing, grief counselling and school fees for their orphaned grandchildren.
Donations to Stride to Turn the Tide can be made directly to participants or on-line at www.stridetoturnthetide.ca.
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