Join the virtual vigil to fund AIDS!

Hi there,

SGAC is officially launching our Virtual Vigilthis week!  What exactly is a virtual vigil, you ask? It's really simple. If we could get  5,000 people together for a vigil, we could show Congress that the AIDS crisis must be addressed, even in a recession. Of course, getting 5,000 of us together is a challenge. So, instead of gathering together to show Congress we want full funding for global AIDS, what if we instead collected 5,000 photos of each of us, and all of our friends, and then SGAC brought them to New York to display for the whole world to see, at an upcoming UN High Level Meeting on AIDS?

Already, nearly 100 people have participated in the Virtual Vigil. Can you join them? Here's how:

1. Take a photo of yourself holding a candle or a sign with a message for Congress. Here are some ideas for messages you could write.
2. Submit your photo to info@studentglobalaidscampaign.org. We'll put the photo up on our Facebook page, and let you know when it's up so you can tag yourself in it and make it your profile page (if you use Facebook!).
3. Share your photo with your Member of Congressand Senators by tweeting at them (use the hashtag #VirtualVigilForAIDSFunding - yep, it's long, but we want to get the point across) and/or leaving a post for them on their Facebook pages (you can find your Senators/Rep on Twitter and Facebook by going to their websites or searching Twitter/Facebook for their names).
4. Repeat, with all your friends. Set up a table and collect pictures of people walking by. Hold an event and ask take a photo of everyone with a candle or a sign. Click here to see some more ideas of how to get everyone you know (and even those you don't) to submit their photos.

The deadline for submitting photos is April 30th. Then we'll compile all the photos and take them to New York to show that thousands of young people across the US, and indeed the world, are demanding that they take action to fight global AIDS.

- Jennifer 
  Student Global AIDS Campaign