The annual BRAKING AIDS RIDE took off this morning in Boston, MA. Over 100 cycling activists, a 60-person road crew, and thousands of their supporters will raise money and awareness in support of efforts to eradicate HIV/AIDS and homelessness. The cyclists will complete a three-day, 285-mile ride from Boston to NYC.
“Each time another individual steps up to help support the mission, our community and support grow, the fight to end AIDS becomes stronger, and we get closer to an AIDS-free future,” said Mikola De Roo, Housing Works VP of Advocacy Communications & Marketing, who will be participating in the ride for her fourth year.
The Ride route brings the cyclists through communities most affected by HIV/AIDS. That is an intentional act of advocacy, a way of combating HIV stigma by making the issue visible in the areas hit hardest by it—by taking the ride, described by many as “a civil-rights march on two wheels,” through neighborhoods with the highest incidents of HIV in New England, into community centers, schools, and faith communities where locals, youth especially, can learn about both AIDS and the people committed to fighting it. Click here to download the list of cheering stations!
Although the goals of the ride and of Housing Works remain the same, the fight to end AIDS is at a pivotal, aspirational moment. In the year since Governor Andrew Cuomo’s June 2014 public commitment to end AIDS as an epidemic in New York State by 2020, we have gone from ending AIDS being a pipe-dream to actually having a viable State Plan. On April 29, 2015, Governor Cuomo publicly accepted a Blueprint for Ending the Epidemic (ETE) in NY City and State that translates the three components of the Plan into concrete steps for action. The Blueprint, developed by a Task Force of experts, advocates, and agency officials from across the State, includes recommendations to not only achieve the goals of the Plan but to get to zero new HIV infections, deaths, and HIV discrimination. Housing Works President/CEO Charles King, who participates in the BRAKING AIDS® Ride each year also served as the co-chair of the NY Governor’s Ending the Epidemic Task Force.
The closing ceremony will be held at 5:00 pm on Sunday, September 27th, at Keith D. Cylar Community Health Center on East 9th Street in New York City and feature comedian Judy Gold. As the riders arrive to the roaring welcome of friends, family and Cylar House residents, memorial flags will be hoisted to commemorate those lost in the fight against AIDS. For more information, or to make a donation please visit www.brakingaidsride.org.
