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For Immediate Release
Contact: Teresa Lyles Holmes
Email: tholmes@balmingilead.org
Phone: 212/730-7381
Churches Gearing Up For 13th Annual
Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS
(New York, NY) - January 15, 2002 - Churches across the country are gearing
up for the 13th annual Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS March
3-9, 2002. The week, organized by The Balm In Gilead, is a national campaign,
which mobilizes Black churches to become centers for AIDS education and compassion.
Since its inception in 1989, The Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of
AIDS has become the nation's largest AIDS awareness campaign targeting the Black
community. Leading this year's campaign as national spokesperson is legendary
Gospel singer and television host Dr. Bobby Jones.
"I am very honored and proud to be the national spokesperson for The Balm
In Gilead's thirteenth annual Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS,"
says Jones. "I stand tall, hand-in-hand joining my brothers and sisters in
the fight against HIV/AIDS."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 1999, more African
Americans were reported with AIDS than any other racial/ethnic group. The rate
is more than 2 times greater than the rate for Hispanics and 8 times greater than
that for whites. "Just as all of us have been affected by the recent attacks
on the U.S., we have all been affected and under siege by HIV/AIDS for more than
twenty years," says Pernessa Seele, CEO and Founder of The Balm In Gilead.
"The AIDS epidemic has reached a national health state of emergency among
Black people living in the United States, Africa and the Caribbean."
In the past, churches recognized the Black Church Week of Prayer by hosting
AIDS workshops, distributing information, devoting a sermon or song to those affected
and infected by the virus. This year, during the Black Church Week of Prayer for
the Healing of AIDS, Black church leaders at both the national and local level
will call for a national health state of emergency regarding AIDS in the Black
community.
To help churches participate in the Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing
of AIDS, The Balm In Gilead is distributing Church HIV/AIDS Resource Kits. Churches
are encouraged to call early and register their church for the Week of Prayer
and reserve their free information Resource Kit.
The Balm In Gilead is the only organization in the United States dedicated exclusively
to empowering churches in the struggle against the devastation of HIV/AIDS in
the Black community. Recently, with more funding from the CDC, the Balm In Gilead
expanded its work to engage churches to address HIV in Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire,
Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa.
For more information about the Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of
AIDS or to receive your church's free information resource kit, call The Balm
In Gilead at (888) 225-6243.
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