The Ride Against AIDS is a unique and powerful cross-country bike ride dedicated to raising funds and awareness for FACE AIDS. In June 2012, a group of dedicated student AIDS activists will begin biking in San Francisco, CA. 67 days and more than 4,000 miles later, they will arrive in Boston in August 2012. Along the way they will give presentations about FACE AIDS, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the role of students in promoting social justice. This year’s Ride Against AIDS team is aiming to raise $100,000 for FACE AIDS. Learn more about the Ride Against AIDS at: http://www.faceaids.org/rideagainstaids.html.

The current disparity in HIV prevalence, access to treatment and care, and general health outcomes between the world's rich and the world's poor is unjust and unacceptable. Combating these pressing global health challenges requires strong leadership and innovative ideas. While many young people today are deeply passionate about tackling these challenges, they often feel unable or unsure about how to make a difference. When these young people don't achieve their potential impact, the creation of much needed global health solutions is delayed, to the detriment of millions of lives.

In response, FACE AIDS harnesses young people's passion for social change and equips them with the skills, resources, and community to fight HIV/AIDS and promote global health equity now and throughout their lives. They also empower HIV-affected youth in impoverished communities with access to credit, savings, and business skills training, helping to limit HIV/AIDS' devastating impact on the social and economic development of communities.

Riders are driven by their commitment to a larger vision of a world without HIV/AIDS, a world in which all people have equal access to high-quality, comprehensive health care, and by their belief that our generation can and must be the one to make this vision a reality.

Your donation matters.

$30 provides a seed grant for a young Rwandan to launch his or her first savings account.

$120 enables FACE AIDS to employ an HIV-affected community member for six months.

$525 allows FACE AIDS to train a youth chapter in Rwanda on HIV/AIDS, leadership skills, and business and financial management.

$1,000 funds a grant to a FACE AIDS youth chapter in Rwanda to design and carry out a six-month-long community health project. This past year, one chapter designed a project to combat severe child malnutrition in HIV-affected families. The chapter—comprised of 30 secondary school age youth—trained 12 families on proper nutrition and build each family a large terrace kitchen garden so that they could growth healthy, diverse foods. In just six months, 100% of participating children moved from severely malnourished to healthy status.

FACE AIDS has established chapters at over 210 high schools and colleges across the United States. These chapters organize and educate their peers and communities, advocate to policymakers for substantive action, fundraise for comprehensive health care provision, and more. 100% of the total funds raised by these student chapters is granted to Partners In Health, an internationally acclaimed NGO providing health care to some of the world's most marginalized populations. PIH uses the funds to provide comprehensive health care in Rwanda, where FACE AIDS works with HIV-affected communities. Since their founding in 2005, FACE AIDS has raised more than $2.5 million to provide health care to the HIV-affected poor in Rwanda.

In Rwanda, FACE AIDS has established over 30 chapters involving more than 1,000 highly vulnerable, HIV-affected youth. They work on two fronts to support these youth. First, they provide opportunities for leadership development and meaningful engagement in addressing health, poverty, and development challenges by awarding small grants to selected chapters to design and implement youth-led community health interventions. Second, to address the poverty, joblessness, and social isolation faced by many of their chapter members, they help the youth in their chapters to start revolving savings and credit funds. This model empowers Rwandan youth to see themselves as leaders in the health and development of their communities, and gives them the economic and professional support they need to make safe and healthy choices in their own lives. Most current FACE AIDS chapter members in Rwanda are living with HIV, have lost at least one parent to HIV/AIDS, and/or are caring for a person living with HIV/AIDS. Approximately one-third (33%) of these youth are living with HIV, a dramatically higher prevalence rate than the national average for young men aged 15 – 24 (0.5%) and young women aged 15 – 24 (1.4%).

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Direct Impact of Your Project

Funds raised will be used to support a range of community health initiatives in Rwanda. Each rider, who has committed to raising $5000, could fund 5 grants, each for a FACE AIDS youth chapter in Rwanda (comprised of 30 youth), to design and carry out a six-month-long community health project.
This is just one way that FACE AIDS impacts the lives of Rwandans on an ongoing basis.

Extended Impact on Your Partner Community

This past year, one chapter designed a project to combat severe child malnutrition in HIV-affected families. The chapter trained 12 families on proper nutrition and build each family a large terrace kitchen garden so that they could growth healthy, diverse foods. Allowing for an average family size of 5 members, one grant would indirectly impact 60 people.