NSU Hosts Walking Tour of AIDS Memorial Quilt Display Dec. 1 through 5

University Marks 20th Anniversary of World AIDS Day With Multi-Campus Tour

TAHLEQUAH Sections of the internationally celebrated AIDS Memorial Quilt the 54-ton, handmade tapestry that stands as a memorial to more than 91,000 individuals lost to AIDS will be on view from Dec. 1 through 5 during Northeastern State University's Walking Tour of the AIDS Memorial Quilt Display.

This free quilt display is being presented as part of the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day December 1, 2008. Panels of the historic tapestry will be on display at the following university locations: the John Vaughan Library, RiverHawk Shoppe and College of Optometry on the Tahlequah campus; the NSU Muskogee campus; and the NSU-Broken Arrow Campus Library and Bookstore. The Cherokee Tribal Complex is also partnering with the University to display a panel of the quilt.

The Unfolding Ceremony for the panels was held Monday, Dec. 1 at 11 a.m. in the University Center Senator Herb Rozell Ballroom. NSU President Dr. Don Betz, Cherokee Nation Chief Chad Smith, and Tahlequah Mayor Ken Purdy were on hand for the event, as well as members from several student organizations including the Northeastern State University Student Government and Residence Hall Associations.

Established in 1987, The NAMES Project Foundation is the international organization that is the custodian of The AIDS Memorial Quilt. The AIDS Memorial Quilt began with a single panel created in San Francisco in 1987. Today, The Quilt is composed of more than 47,000 individual 3 x 6 foot panels, each one commemorating the life of someone who has died of AIDS. These panels come from every state in the nation, every corner of the globe and they have been sewn by hundreds of thousands of friends, lovers and family members into this epic memorial, the largest piece of ongoing community art in the world.

In a war against a disease that has no cure, The AIDS Memorial Quilt has evolved as our most potent tool in the effort to educate against the lethal threat of AIDS. By revealing the humanity behind the statistics, The AIDS Memorial Quilt helps teach compassion, triumphs over taboo, stigma and phobia; and inspires individuals to take direct responsibility for their own well-being and that of their family, friends and community.

Julie Rhoad, Executive Director of The NAMES Project Foundation explains, "We are thrilled to have the chance to share The AIDS Memorial Quilt with your community. These handmade blocks, created by friends and family, tell the stories of real people who were loved and lost to AIDS. We bring you their stories in the hope of inspiring compassion, healing and personal responsibility. We thank Northeastern for hosting this event and we invite you all out to see what wonderful healing art we have created together as a nation."

Sections are continuously on display across the country in schools, places of worship, community centers, businesses, corporations and a variety of other institutional settings all in the hope of making the realities of HIV and AIDS real, human and immediate. To date, more than 17 million people have seen The AIDS Memorial Quilt at tens of thousands of display throughout the world.

For more information on the upcoming display at Northeastern State University, please call 918-456-5511. For more information on The NAMES Project and The AIDS Memorial Quilt, please visit the quilt site or call the national headquarters at 404-688-5500.

To download high-resolution photographic images of The AIDS Memorial Quilt, please go to aidsquilt.org/newsroom/images.htm.

12/1/2008

Published: 2008-12-01 00:00:00