A group of ASU students are trying to get their peers to face AIDS.
FACE AIDS, a national student organization whose mission is to inspire students to fight AIDS in Africa, raises money by selling beaded AIDS awareness pins made by Africans affected by the disease.
"All the money we raise goes toward helping people infected with HIV and AIDS," said Chelsea Thomsen, founder of FACE AIDS at ASU. "I feel it's our opportunity and responsibility to help those who are less fortunate."
Thomsen, an anthropology senior, founded ASU's chapter of FACE AIDS November 2006 after the organization's regional coordinator, Sean Howell, contacted her.
Members of FACE AIDS try to get foundations and companies to match the $5 they make for every AIDS pin sold, Thomsen said.
In 2006, FACE AIDS members raised more than $500,000 nationally by selling these pins, and their goal is to exceed that amount this year, Thomsen said.
On World AIDS Day, which was Dec. 1, ASU's chapter raised approximately $800, Thomsen said.
Several Stanford University students founded FACE AIDS in 2005 after they went to Africa and wanted to do something about the poverty, Thomsen said.
Nursing freshman Stephanie Garcia, education coordinator for FACE AIDS at ASU, said the University chapter members hope to educate students.
"More people our age need to be educated about AIDS," Garcia said. "We are trying to spread the word."
An estimated 39.5 million people were living with HIV in November 2006 and 2.9 million died that year from AIDS-related illnesses, according to the World Health Organization.
The WHO also reported 4.3 million new people were infected in 2006 - 65 percent of these occurred in sub-Saharan Africa.
ASU's FACE AIDS advisor, Faye Farmer, said the most important thing the group can do is let people know the impact of the disease.
"People can't be over-educated about HIV and AIDS," she said.
Group members said spreading the word about AIDS, especially the epidemic in Africa, is extremely important.
"People don't think about Africa every day," Thomsen said. "We want to open peoples' eyes to what's going on in the world. We want to raise peoples' social consciousness."
That's why the group is teaming with AIDS HOPE, another student organization, to sponsor a condom corner on campus for AIDS Awareness Week
Condom corner is a table set up outside the Memorial Union to educate students about sexual health topics every week.
Thomsen will speak at the University's Brown Bag Lunch at 12:40 p.m. Friday in MU Room 218 as part of AIDS Awareness Week.
By advertising on campus during AIDS Awareness Week, Thomsen said FACE AIDS hopes to tell students how they can get involved.
Thomsen said $148 dollars each month can provide medication to save the life of an infected adult who is in a Partners in Health AIDS clinic in Africa.
Partners in Health is a health care organization whose mission is to provide a preferential option for the poor.
Members of FACE AIDS encourage any ASU student who wishes to join the group to contact them through their Facebook.com group.
Reach the reporter: samuel.good@asu.edu.
