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Dear Principal, teachers and students, I am writing to invite you and your school community to join in our hopes for an Australia-wide SCHOOLS AIDS DAY on Friday, July 16th - the nearest school day to July 17th which is the birthday of one of Australa's most shamefully treated children, Eve van Grafhorst, who was made a social outcast by her New South Wales community in the mid 1980's just because she had HIV - the first Australian child to be infected by HIV through a blood transfusion. She was later to die in Zealand at just 11 years of age. She was the inspiration for our work and this organisation - the non-profit charity, The Australian AIDS Fund Incorporated. Her brave struggle in the face of such ugly prejudice inspired us to come into being as a non-profit charity 18 years ago to offer supportive accommodation and care to men, women and children struggling to live with HIV/AIDS. AIDS Awareness and the ongoing need to battle prejudice and ignorance took all the energies of Eve's young life and it consumes our energies and hopes too. We're asking if the students at your school might be allowed to have an "optional dress - wear what you want" day on Schools AIDS Day in return for a gold coin; money that can be sent to us to help us in our HIV/AIDS educational awareness programs - our respite camps for infected men, women and children in Australia and to help fund Papua New Guinea's first HIV/AIDS hospice that we've already helped furnish and which will be fully operational this year and our efforts to help people with HIV/AIDS wherever we can. We're a recognised, registered charity and all such school donations will be acknowledged by way of our Official Receipts and we'll also report some of the fundraising efforts on this website. Some schools might care to join with other schools nearby for a combined sausage sizzle etc. (For a 2003 example visit our Reports page in this section) The AIDS Day Liturgies is offered as a guide for join-in reflections. Links provided in the Endorsement Message of Victoria's Department of Education (below) will help speech-makers as well as the host of information to be found elsewhere on this site especially under the HIV/AIDS and Sex Info section. Not every school would be able to mark Schools AIDS Day on July 16 - but even to observe it sometime in that month would be a good thing. Please do join in if you can. We are so fortunate in this country. PLEASE FILL IN THE FORM BELOW THIS MESSAGE. THANK YOU!
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Mr Brian Haill
President - The Australian A.I.D.S. Fund Inc.
PO Box 1347
Frankston, Victoria 3199
Dear Mr Haill
The material you provided to the Minister concerning the Australian AIDS Fund and Schools AIDS Day has been made available to Student Welfare and Support Section and will be retained as an information resource about the Fund's various supportive initiatives in the area of AIDS.
The aims of Schools AIDS Day are clearly consistent with the Department of Education, Employment and Training's policy of student welfare and health promotion' which emphasises the building of student well being through a whole-school approach to creating an inclusive, supportive and non-discriminatory environment.
I wish the Australian AIDS Fund well in its preparations for Schools AIDS Day and look forward to supporting the launch on Friday, 14 July 2000.
Yours sincerely
Peter Allen
Secretary
Click Here to read the Ron Wilson MP - Schools AIDS Day Speech
Click Here to read the Alex Mifsud - Schools AIDS Day Speech
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