CEO, (RED)
For some, today is a day of reflection, to remember a loved one or friends lost to AIDS. For others, today is a day to acknowledge the progress we've made fighting this pandemic, and the tens of thousands of lives that have been saved thanks to the availability of life-saving antiretroviral medicine, and new ways of getting access to it, like (RED).
For me, today is a day where I think of what still needs to be done, of the literally, millions of people we still need to help in Africa who are fighting to survive. I recently traveled to Rwanda and saw the impact of the (RED) money at work. Clinics that a few years ago lacked basic sanitation and supplies, now are functioning well and helping thousands of people live a better life. Real results in preventing mother to child transmission of the virus . Real progress in getting the anti retroviral drugs to those in need and to stemming the spread of AIDS. However, this clearly isn’t work that is finished and today is the day where I see not only how far we've come, but how much more remains to be done.
In sub-Saharan Africa, over 4,000 lives are lost every day to this preventable, treatable disease. Mothers and fathers die for lack of two pills that cost 40 cents a day. There are 12 million AIDS orphans in Africa, and it is projected that there could be 18 million by the end of the decade. Children bringing up children. It’s not a cause. It’s an emergency.
The numbers can seem overwhelming, the size of the epidemic so massive, that we ask, what can one person do? Well, thanks to your (RED) purchases, you have driven $115 million into the Global Fund to buy the two pills a day that keep a person living with HIV in Africa alive. Through the power of the purse you have caused companies to give a percentage of their profits to the Global Fund.
And today, Starbucks is donating 5 cents for every single drink sold directly to The Global Fund and throughout the rest of the holiday season, there will be special (RED) drinks available at Starbucks. They sell 50 million cups of coffee every day. You do the math - if some of these purchases are (RED) then potentially millions will be delivered to the fund. And all you have to do is buy a cup of coffee. At no extra cost to you.
Also today, we are launching (RED) Wire, a digital music magazine that, for $5 a month, gives you amazing music from artists like John Legend, U2, Jenny Lewis, Keith Urban, Elvis Costello and more. You'll also get special content and updates from Africa - with half the money going directly to The Global Fund. There's a launch party going on right now at red.msn.com
There are special (RED) t-shirts at GAP. African-inspired (RED) DELL Laptops. A new student upgrade of (RED) Windows Vista Ultimate. And a new (RED) iPod nano. Not to mention our Armani (RED) collection, Hallmark (RED) gift cards, the artist inspired Converse One HUND(RED) and their African canvas Chuck Taylors and many more options. I hope that as you look at your holiday list, you'll think about including some (RED) gifts - buy (RED) and you save lives, it's as simple as that.
Tomorrow, it won’t be World AIDS Day again, but the need will still be there as it will be every single day from now to next December 1st. To all of you who choose (RED), thank you. What you choose to buy matters.
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4 comments:
thank you susan, that is an awesome post.
i too still think of what needs to be done, and that for the majority of the AIDS victims today isn't much different than yesterday and maybe tomorrow, where they might live long enough to see. i'm glad that for one day many pause to reflect the ramifications of inattentiveness with us. and we can appeal to whatever side of them is willing to take action, even shopping side, to make a difference.
thank you for going to Rwanda and seeing first-hand the progress and need. the need is great still the progress is substantial, just by our cups of coffee and tennis shoes, and my fav, the itunes cards. i can seriously justify that Starbucks and itunes cards aren't a violation of my Advent Conspiracy pledge i've taken, (compassion over consumption), and teen and child relatives need something more than a card that we've given a goat in their name. (red), you've saved my skin here!
staying close,
sammi in seattle =)
i thought this was an awesome post.
i'm seventeen years old from the dc/md/va area and i'm a huge advocate for the disease.
today is the day that i raise as much awareness as i can to my peers, who don't take this very serious.
i've tried to let them know that half of the new hiv/aids are young adults 25 on down.
it knows no age.
i want to applaud you for working with (red), raising awareness.
you are doing an amazing job.
love, britney.
Thank you very much, Susan, for your very heartfelt post for World AIDS Day.
I COMPLETELY agree with you - we honor those who have lost their lives to AIDS through the last twenty years or so on World AIDS Day by recommitting ourselves to ACTION to make sure that as few people as possible in the future must succumb to this virus and by CELEBRATING the progress that we have made so far in our movement to end AIDS & extreme poverty.
For those of us here in the "developed world" who are actually active with our brothers & sisters in Africa who must DAILY live with the negative effects of HIV/AIDS in their lives, any bit of joy & celebration in our movement is welcomed as this is NOT an easy road for our friends in Africa to walk nor is it easy for us as they share their daily struggles with this vicious virus with us.
Quite honestly, (RED) HAS BECOME THE JOY OF MY LIFE. I love to see the manifestations of (RED) in my daily life - when a young woman is listening to a (RED) iPod or a young man is talking on his (RED) Moto.
I smile whenever I walk into my Hallmark store and can purchase several (RED) cards or now when I walk into a Starbucks and I am greeted by those beautiful RED parentheses like two huge arms embracing me as I purchase my peppermint mocha twist coffee.
I WILL ALWAYS BE (RED) because I know of the tremendous good that (RED) money does for the People of Africa and I know of the very sincerely motivated staff of (RED) who have made this organization a family and treat all of us volunteers/supporters like we are a part of all of you.
I only wish that I could have seen this post sooner, Susan. Yesterday on World AIDS Day, I was hono(red) to speak before a university class in the morning regarding my own work with the MPWN and of the larger struggle to end HIV/AIDS in Africa and then in the afternoon I took a Greyhound bus some 200 miles north to Dallas to meet up with a few friends to attend the (RED)WIRE launch party.
In closing, I must once more thank those of you who have been with (RED) from the beginning of this GREAT endeavor.
It was YOUR hard work and your inspi(red) leadership which got (RED) up and going and to all of you - Bobby, Tamsin, Bono & others - my sincerest gratitude.
People in Africa are alive today - all because of you.~
Take very good care of each other, dear hearts. Blessings always.
I REMAIN...ALWAYS (RED) AT HEART, debbie :)
www.mpwn-uganda.org
Thanks for the post. As i noted in The AIDS Pandemic, everyone is affected by HIV/AIDS and everyone can help. No event is too small, no action is too little.
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