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For Immediate Release
September 11, 2003
Contact: Teresa Lyles Holmes For The Balm In Gilead
TLH Communications
212-730-7381
Founder and CEO of The Balm In Gilead, Inc. Pernessa C. Seele Announces
15th Annual Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS
Organization Gears Up For the Nation’s Largest AIDS Awareness Campaign
Targeting African Americans
NEW YORK, NY—September 11, 2003--Pernessa Seele Founder and CEO of The
Balm In Gilead announced the 15th anniversary of the annual observance of The
Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS, March 7-13, 2004. A milestone
year for an organization whose work spans three decades of mobilizing churches
across the Black Diaspora to become community centers for HIV/AIDS education,
prevention and compassionate care.
The Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS began in 1989 as
The Harlem Week of Prayer with the participation of 50 local churches. Today,
The
Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS, the largest HIV/AIDS awareness
campaign targeting Africans and African Americans, works with thousands of churches
in African, African American and Caribbean communities. The Black Church Week
of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS was launched during the Lenten, a time when
Christians cleanse and discipline their hearts, minds and bodies to become receptive
to the ideals of Christianity.
"Our community is in dire need of the leadership
of the Black Church,” says
Seele. “We are in a time of crisis, pandemonium and fear. Over twenty years
ago, when this epidemic began, no one ever thought it would grip the Black community
as it has today. But, with faith, prayer and trust in our religious leadership,
we will not give up.”
Embarking upon its 15th year, The Balm In Gilead
is calling on every religious leader to be a loud voice in the fight against
HIV/AIDS in the communities across
the Black Diaspora and for every church or religious institution to have an active
role. Churches can host workshops, seminars, prayer vigils, marches or simply
distribute information. Today, The Balm In Gilead not only mobilizes churches
and religious organizations in the United States, but is in partnership with
religious leadership including Catholic, Christians and Muslims leaders in the
African countries of Cote’d Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
Years ago, when the AIDS epidemic was first noted, African Americans represented
less than a quarter of the AIDS cases in the country, today over 50% of all
new AIDS cases are among Black Americans.
During its history, The Balm In Gilead has worked with numerous prominent
African American religious leaders including T.D. Jakes, Jeremiah A. Wright,
Jr., Calvin O. Butts, Barbara Amos, James Forbes, John Kinney, Al Sharpton,
and W. Franklyn Richardson.
Since its inception in 1989, The Black Church
Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS has engaged Black Churches to become
centers for education, understanding
and care in the fight against HIV/AIDS. In the past, churches recognized
the Black Church Week of Prayer by hosting AIDS workshops, distributing
information or devoting a sermon or song to those affected and infected
by the virus.
To help churches participate in The Black Church Week of Prayer
for the
Healing of AIDS, The Balm In Gilead distributes Church HIV/AIDS Resource
Kits. Churches are encouraged to call early and register their church for
the Week
of Prayer, reserve their free information Resource Kit, or receive a copy
of The Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS Magazine.
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. For more information about The Black
Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS or to reserve your church’s
free information resource kit, call The Balm In Gilead at (888) 225-6243.
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