‘Over 2,000 participants gathered on the bright and sunny morning of Sept. 27 at Soldier Field for this year’s Resist, Restore and Renew-themed AIDS Foundation Chicago’s (AFC) AIDS Run and Walk. This event has taken place since 2001 with over 34,500 participants who have helped raise $7 million to combat the HIV epidemic.
The event website states that the Resist, Restore and Renew theme’s message is, “we must resist and defend our movement against attacks from people in power seeking to reverse our decades of progress. We must restore and take care of ourselves and each other to protect the sustainability of our activism. And we must renew and double down on our commitment to fight for a world where everyone has access to health care and housing.”
CommunityDirect partners will receive 90% of the funds raised by their teams from this event while AFC will keep the remainder of those funds to continue their work. Those partners include Agape, NFP; Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago; Ascension; Black Alphabet; Brave Space Alliance; Care Program; Center on Halsted; Chicago House; The Chicago Recovery Alliance; Corazón Community Services; Erie Family Health Centers; Howard Brown Health; Legal Council for Health Justice; Mother and Child Alliance; NEFUSE; Season of Concern Chicago; Sinai Chicago; Transforming Re-Entry Services; and UChicago Medicine.
As of this publication date, more than $375,000 have been raised, with fundraising taking place this year through Nov. 14.
WGN-TV/WGN America entertainment reporter/critic and WGN 720AM radio host Dean Richards served as the emcee. Richards remembered all the people who have died due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
The Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus kicked off the event with their renditions of Seasons of Love and A Brand New Day as one panel of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt was unveiled in front of the stage.
AFC President and CEO John Peller said Richards has been the emcee at almost all of these AIDS Run and Walk events. He called on everyone to participate in moments of silence for those who have already died due to complications from AIDS, as well as longtime AIDS Run and Walk DJ Harry Tyner, Jr. who died two weeks prior to this event.
“We all know that the movement is facing terrible threats from a hostile federal government,” said Peller. “We have seen proposed cuts to long-standing HIV services and programs, housing programs and public health overall. We’ve seen ICE come for our Latiné and immigrant communities with no regard for the health and well-being of those folks.”
Peller added that the federal government has placed “onerous restrictions” on the language AFC and other entities can use, such as references to race and gender identity. He said in order to end the HIV epidemic the Black, Latiné and transgender communities have to be prioritized “with culturally competent care.” Peller said AFC has refused to adhere to the federal government edicts and has sued them and are represented by Lambda Legal, who is doing the work pro-bono. He also spoke AFC’s involvement in the Getting to Zero 2030 Illinois initiative.
Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Olusimbo (Simbo) Ige, MD, said this was her first Run and Walk event. Ige added that the work she does is personal since she lost her cousin to AIDS when she was 10 years old. She spoke about resistance being her story since that time, because she started to question why lives are lost to AIDS; why certain people are pushed to the margins; the importance of saying their names; and the importance of acknowledging the diversity, multiplicity and cultural variance that makes up Planet Earth.
Chicago Ald. Bennett Lawson (44th Ward) spoke about his over 25-year involvement with HIV/AIDS awareness as a volunteer, fundraiser, activist and now as an elected official. He called on everyone to do what they can to keep Chicago and Illinois a place of sanctuary for LGBTQ+ people and especially transgender people, as well as those who want competent medical care.
Lawson also recognized the “mother of our movement,” the late LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS activist Lori Cannon who died two months ago. He spoke about Cannon’s decades-long work with the food pantry she started, her ACT UP Chicago and AIDS Quilt involvement and as one of the Legacy Project co-founders.
U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (5th District) said he is proud of all his votes in Congress that have gone against the Trump Administration including the anti-trans riders and HIV research cuts.
Quigley added, “There’s been talk about how we need to be ‘smarter and more refined,’ and maybe leave out some of our friends when we talk about the issues. You don’t grow a coalition by cutting out your friends. I was honored to serve with John Lewis. The first thing he said to me about where our country is. ‘We may have come over here in different ships but we’re in the same boat now.’ Well, it’s a hell of a storm we’re riding through … There’s no group that I would rather be in that boat than all of you.”
Ahead of the run/walk, Fitness Formula Club’s Joy Miles led warm-up stretches for participants, and there were performances by Jeff Award, Time Out Award and Black Theatre Alliance Award winner Donica Lynn, who sang Believe In Yourself (reprise); Juwon Perry, who sang This Is Me; and the Lakeside Pride Marching Band.
Peller, Quigley and Richards also rallied the runners and walkers at the start line.
Drag queens House of Potato cheered on all participants at the start line and Lawson led the 5K runners on his bike.
First-place winners in the 10K race include Wenna Xi in the female category, Anders Evenson in the male category and Yiwen Jiang in the non-binary category.
The 5K race first-place winners were Emma Blodgett in the female category, Scott Bartuska in the male category and Kate Kozeniewski in the non-binary category.
The event also featured free flu and COVID vaccines courtesy of Walgreens, a MillerCoors Beer Garden, breakfast items ahead of the race and fries at the end of the race from McDonald’s flagship McRig mobile restaurant and sponsor booths.
