Conference turris::womannotes-v2

    I'm in!  (I wanna make sure you earn my $50 by walking the whoooolle
    waaaay, Jen!  ;')  
    
    						=maggie

    
    Thanks for posting this, Jenny. The official word re: DEC's sponsorship
    will be available at the end of next week. 
    
    Stay tuned for more info.
    
    Ann Marie,
    Vice-chair, DEC's '89 Walk Committee

The end point of the walk is not the hatch shell, it's somewhere else 
this year. It will be near there though.     

AAC has a large number and large variety of job openings for the walk, 
including organizing and tallying the money, making sandwiches a couple 
days before, coordinating all p.w.a.'s who participate in the walk. If 
you want to know more, you can contact Liz Page or Richard Giglio. 
AAC's phone is 617-437-6200. Richard's ext. is 251; don't know Liz's. 
The walk number is is 266-6906 for more information...

    count me in
    
      Ann

    Count me in! But do we have to take that ratty tatty banner along?
    (tee hee)
    
    This will be a good time!
    
    Kate
    

    Is it too early to ask for more information?  Such as where the
    walk starts?  How far do you walk?  For those of us who don't know
    Boston well, what about public transportation in and out?  Where
    to get pledge sheets?
    
    This is a cause I wholeheartedly support and will probably try to
    join you (and get to meet some womannoters at the same time!).
    
    Thanks.
    Karen

    Here's some information from the brochure:
    
>   On Sunday June 4th, people from all walks of life will gather on
    Boston Common and begin a 10+ kilometer pledge walk to raise money
    for AIDS care and research.
    
>   Come with us and follow a path down Commonwealth Avenue, through
    Brookline into Cambridge, and down Memorial Drive to Liederman Field
    on the Esplanade (across from Mass. General Hospital), where the
    walk will end with a gala music concert in celebration of life!
    
>   This fourth annual pledge walk is the largest fundraising event
    for AIDS services held in New England.
    
    Registration begins at 8:30 am; walk starts at 10 am.
    
    Pledge sheets should be available in many DEC sites around the first
    week of May. If you'd like a pledge sheet now, please send me your
    name and mailstop or call the walkline at 617-266-6906.
    
    There's public transportation directly to the common (the green
    line goes there); a good trick is to park at Alewife on the redline
    and Tee into the city. Another option is to take a train from the
    'burbs into North station and the green line to the common.
    
    Liz

    Lord!  I am on a roll...DC, and May 7th 20 mi. Walk for Hunger,
    and June 4th.  If this keeps up, by Sept. I will need a new pair
    of walking shoes!
    
    Count me in.  I was intending to do this alone, but had much rather
    march under the nicest banner that waved in the wind in DC on 4/9.
    
    My daughter lost her dearest and closest friend of 18 years 
    to AIDS on Christmas Eve last year.  I walk for WALLY BURKE.  
    
    Rain or shine.
    
    M  
    

    I'll be walking for my youngest brother, Phil Davis.  He has been
    diagnosed as being "borderline AIDS", although he does not yet have any
    symptoms other than general fatigue.  Phil has acted as pall bearer for
    several of his dearest friends in the past three or four years.  I'd
    appreciate your support of AIDS research in the form of a pledge.  Send
    mail?
    
    thanks,
    Marge

    Mike and I will be doing the walk. Can somebody tell me where to
    get a pledge sheet though ? Thanks.
    
    We will also be doing the 20 mile walk for hunger in May. (I hope
    we can find enough sponsers for both :-)
    
    Dee
    

    Great!
    
    I was planning on doing this walk alone too, but seeing as =wn=
    will be there I'll definitely walk with y'all!
    
    - L

    
    Theresa and I will be there again this year.
    
    Cal.
    

    The colors of our "record" (the ribbon streamers commemorating each
    event) this time will be green (the AAC color, and one symbolic of life
    generally) and white (for recording our names on).   
    
    						=maggie
    

    p.s.
        
    Could I beg everyone to remember to use ONLY the special pens (we'll
    have 2 this time!!) to write their names?  At the march, I couldn't
    find the second indelible pen and thus many people very naturally used
    an ordinary one...which unfortunately turned out to be water-based and
    thus subject to smearing. I'm in the process of fixing those fragile
    signatures now, but it's a hard job and one I'd _much_ rather not have
    to do every time. 

    Both Ron (AKO12::GODIN) and I will be proudly participating -- and
    looking forward to meeting womannote friends.
    
    I'm walking for my Uncle Jim, who is in the final stages of AIDS,
    and for a cousin who has been diagnosed but hasn't yet found the 
    strength and courage to break the news to her mother.
             
    We're going to need more detailed public transportation info,
    so if anyone knows the T schedules and transfers well, please send
    me mail.
    
    Thanks -- and looking forward to seeing the rest of you, and the
    banner -- for a good cause.
    Karen                     

Digital Equipment Corp. will again be a major corporate sponsor of the 4th 
Annual "Walk for Life" on June 4 in Boston to benefit the AIDS Action Committee 
and 35 other agencies.  This year's Walk goal is $1.5 million. Through the 
leadership of Alan Zimmerle, Corporate AA/EEO Manager, Corporate Personnel is 
helping to underwrite the cost of putting on the Walk.

Last year 300 Digital employees raised better than $23,000 for the Walk, all of 
which was matched through our Matching Gifts Program.  This was the largest 
amount raised by a single corporation for the AIDS Action Committee and it was 
our largest single contribution to a specific organization, with the exception 
of the United Way.

Information for employees about the Walk--including pledge cards and sign-up 
sheets--are available through Health Services, Employee Activities, 
Northeast Area Personnel, and the AIDS Program Office.  All monies raised will
be matched through our Matching Gifts Program.

In addition, this year Digital will be part of a larger effort on behalf of the
Walk.  As a founding member of the New England Corporate Consortium for AIDS 
Education, it will join nine member companies in sponsoring activities for AIDS 
Education Awareness Week May 31-June 2, culminating in the Walk itself on 
Sunday, June 4th. Current members of the Consortium are Bank of Boston, Bank of
New England, Cabot Corporation, daka, Inc., Harbor Sweets, Lotus Development 
Corporation, New England Telephone, Polaroid Corporation, and Textron.

We have an important opportunity to make this year's "Walk for Life" even more 
successful than last year's, and to make a difference in the fight against AIDS.
    

 
* Site contacts to work with Health Services in disseminating Walk info

* AIDS Action Committee needs volunteers prior to and on day of Walk.

We (Committee coordinating DEC's involvement in the '89 Walk) need site 
contacts to help Health Services, our primary focal point, disseminate
Walk info. If you are interested in participating in this way, please
please contact Scott BOEHM::VonRhee (226-5979) or Ann Marie SALEM::Lupacchino
(261-3551 - leave message) Contacts in the past have arranged showings of the 
AAC Walk videotape at lunchtime seminars, checked on the availability of Walk
brochures/pledge sheets, etc.

AIDS Action Committee needs help now stuffing envelopes at their office at
131 Clarendon St. in Boston and on the day of the Walk doing various jobs.
Please call the Walk line - 617-266-6906 if you can volunteer your assistance.
                  
                        **************************

At this year's walk, there will be 200 DEC t-shirts distributed on a first come,
first serve basis to DEC walkers.  (Balloons were decided against this year 
because of environmental concerns.) The "sea of DEC blue t-shirts" was very
striking at last year's Walk according AAC organizers.    

Matching grant questions are to be directed to Corp. Contributions, Matching 
Gift Coordinator at 223-7256.

    
    You noters are great! Thanks for your support, your enthusiasm and
    most of all your caring.
    
    Noters already have been seen up at AAC doing Walk-work...good goin',
    Liz A. and Jenny T.!!
    
    Ann Marie

 
    From a friend on the net re: sandwich-making for Walk.    
    
    "Re: does AAC need more help on Saturday 6/3 - yes! They have 2 shifts
    11am-4pm and 1pm-6pm. Call Richard at 437-6200, x251 for info."

    Hope to see you all on 6/4, too!
    am
    
 

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Note 624.0            =WN= banner: who will help carry it?            No replies
HAMSTR::IRLBACHER "not yesterday's woman, today"     18 lines  31-MAY-1989 09:09
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    To Moderator:  I assume that you will either move this or better
    yet, you can remove it entirely after Friday.
    
    The AIDS walk is on the 4th of June, meeting at the Commons in
    Boston to begin.    
    
    If the =WN= banner is to be used, it will need some people to carry
    it.  It isn't heavy, nor really cumbersome.  It is beautiful and
    it would be nice if we could have enough =WN= walkers to be under
    the banner.
    
    *Finally* I will get to the subject.  *Please* if anyone is going
    to be walking, will you consider helping carry the banner?  If we
    don't have enough interested in it, we won't be using it. 
    
    Please either let me know by mail or in this note.
    
    M

    So that's 4 of us so far:
    
    	Jenny
    	Marilyn
    	Marge
    	me
    
    						=maggie

I'll also be at the march but I'm not sure that I will be able
to help hold the sign as yet.

john

    hi folks,
    
    if you're interested in helping out at the walk, here's an opportunity:
    the finance team needs help on sunday in three shifts: 8-12, 12-4 and
    4-8. they'll be opening envelopes, sorting and counting, and preparing
    to deposit the proceeds in the bank by the end of the day. they'll also
    have food, music, and pleasant people to hang out with. this is a great
    job for people who want to participate but don't want to walk; in fact,
    the finance team counts this activity as "walking".
    
    if you're interested, please call the aids action committee at 
    617-437-6200 and ask for "louis in finance".
    
    
    liz 
     

Finally, I have been able to talk to Richard Giglio from AAC re:corp. tables
for the Walk on Sunday.

I will place our T-shirt table somewhere between the Park St. MBTA Station and 
the Tourist Info Center on Tremont St. (Opening ceremonies this year are closer
to the  gazebo on the Common.) 

The Womannotes Banner can be picked up at the table as well after 7a.m.

Thanks for your help and see you real soon!
Ann Marie

Because the Walk Committee has no way of knowing the number of DECCIES
who are planning to walk, a notebook will be available for you to sign
(use your name, initials, your site..whatever is comfortable for you) 
at the t-shirt table.
    
Ann Marie

    Maggie--we have several others who have volunteered to help with
    the banner.  They notified me by mail, so everything is a-okay
    and it will wave most beautifully again on one more Sunday walk!
    
    See all you walkers on Sunday.  M

        Observation from someone who has walked in the past:

        There   seems   to   be   a  significantly  greater  number  of
        heterosexual women walking this year than in past. This is  the
        first  time  that  I've  collected at work and had competition.
        And  there  is  LOTS  of  it,  too.  Many  people  are  already
        sponsoring  someone else. In just about every case, it's been a
        gay  male  or  a  woman.  I'll  bet het  women  will  be  very well
        represented. 

        For those of you who don't know, the lesbians  have  championed
        the  cause  from  day  one.  Since they were at the least risk,
        they realized that fear was paralyzing the gay  male  community
        and  they  have  been  a  great  impetus  in mobilizing for the
        cause. The gay males would not have  made  such  great  strides
        without the females standing next to them.

        Now it seems that heterosexual women are stepping up and taking
        on  their  share  of the burden as well. My pledge sheet is 75%
        female this year!

        I was also surprised  at  the  number  of  het  women  who  had
        stories  of  a  friend  (personal  or  of  the  family) who has
        contracted the disease. 

        Congratulations  to  the  women's  movement  for  making   this
        significant step towards unity in fighting this disease! 

        I'll leave out who we have to work on next! [ahem].

    Okay, folks, where shall we all meet?

    
    What an incredible experience!!! 
    
    I'm so overwhelmed with yesterday's walk, that it will take days for
    all of it to sink in... 
    
    First off, there were 18,000 walkers and $1,575,000 collected as of
    yesterday at 3 p.m. 
    
    The Surgeon General was there, all in his whites, to give his support.
    
    Lots of DECies were there... and that was one of the loveliest things
    about the day from my perspective, the chance to meet and share the day
    with so many wonderful folks, and to renew fond acquaintances.  
    
    Although I fell behind the banner (which should have its own note in
    this conference, a masterpiece) at about the 2.5 mile mark, I fell in
    with a bunch of male choristers and a couple of fellows from Maine who
    were down for the walk, who kept me company the rest of the way in
    where I met up with the DEC =wn= gang once again for lunch (and toe
    airing) and tears and cuddles.
    
    Thanks to those who supported us, financially and in spirit.
    
    grins,
    Marge

    Surgeon General Koop, in his dress whites, spoke at the pre-march rally
    and got a *very* enthusiastic ovation.  The walk itself took about 5
    hours time, we'd to move _very_ slowly along some patches.  We all got
    sunburnt, sticky with orange juice, footsore, and generally seemed to
    feel very good about it all.  Over the loudspeakers at the end of the
    day, they said that there were some 18,000 walkers in toto.  They also
    said how much money they reckoned was raised, but I might not have
    heard that correctly.  I thought I heard $575K, but that's a very low
    number (some $35 per person) and someone else heard $1,575K instead,
    which sounds more reasonable.  Ann Marie, do you know?
    
    I haven't counted the signatures we got yesterday on our commemorative
    ribbons, but I'd guess we had around 20 wnoters to support the banner
    (out of I'd guess 60?-80? DECcies total).  Once again, it was one of
    the most-photographed and most-asked-about artifacts in the whole
    event! I expect we may see photos in some of the regional weeklies.
    
    						=maggie

    I seem to have acquired a book yesterday and for the life of me can't
    remember from whom.  I'd be glad to return it, tho!
    
    							=maggie

    

    The total Marge mentioned was in this morning's Boston Glob. The final
    total probably won't be known until the end of the summer.
    
    However, to give you an idea of how well we did as DECCIES yesterday,
    128 employees signed the notebook at the DEC T-shirt table and their
    pledges totalled $47,446.20!  Pretty darn good, I'd say!
    
    Thanks to all of you who contributed to a successful Walk!
    
    Ann Marie  

There were large numbers of DECcies throughout the walk!

Nice to see all DEC friends - old and new... 

john

    after registering participants in the morning and celebrating with
    friends after the walk, i worked on the finance team last evening
    (third shift, from about 4 to nearly midnight!). we counted lots
    of cash and processed over 34,000 checks. many of those were for
    $5, $10 and $20, but i also saw quite a few for several hundred
    and even some for over a thousand. the bank deposit was made last
    night. we didn't even start to process matching gift forms, though
    by far, most of them were from digital. i'll be curious to hear
    what the final numbers are! 
    
    liz
    

        Sorry  that  I could only spend a short amount of time with the
        =wn= community, but I had lots and lots of people to see . I
        got to sign the banner though! :-)

        What impressed me about  this  year's  walk  was  that  it  was
        obvious  that  they  put a *lot* of thought into inclusivity by
        the entertainment along the way. Last year the small amount  of
        entertainment   along   the  way  seemed  (from  what  i  could
        remember) to come from the gay/lesbian community.

        This year, there was much, much more  entertainment  along  the
        way, and there was enough entertainment for all to enjoy. 

        Being  an  African-American Male, and a member of AIDS Action's
        Multi-Cultural Concerns Committee, this was very  important  to
        me. Being  that  there  was  some  African-American  groups  of
        adults, young adults and children was a very important step in 
        making  everyone feel included in this fight. I'm going to send
        a congratulatory note to AIDS Action.  I  really  love  Richard
        and Liz anyway!

        When  ,That's  What  Friends Are For was simulcast over the 50+
        radio stations, my  friends  and  I  were  hanging  on  to  one
        another  so  hard  I  thought  I  was  going  to  burst! A very
        emotional time for me.

        And  that  group  that sang at the luncheon were excellent! Who
        was that woman singing lead? 

        I dedicate last week's walk to Jef and  all  the  other  people
        who have touched my life and lost their lives to AIDS.

        					Roger M

    
    Roger, I think you're referring to thd Diane Davidson group??  I
    am not sure because I didn't reach the stage area until a bit before
    the simulcast.
    
    I have heard Dionne Warwick's "That's What Friends are For" several
    times since the Walk and the floodgates just open. At the Walk I was hanging
    on to my sweetie and my best friend during that part of the festivities
    and I just couldn't hold back the tears.
    
    What a day...
    
    am

    Big photo of our mob and our banner made it into the Acton paper!

    Dee Ryan brought me in a copy and says she'll make more on request.
    
    (You show up right nicely, Marge!)
    
    						=maggie

    I'll send xerox copies to anyone that would like one. Just send
    me mail (marlin::ryan). Please include your name and mail stop.
    
    Dee
    

    Yeah, and *Marilyn* came out clearest of all of us:  center of the
    group looking right into the camera!  What a ham ;')

    Those of you who walked under the =womannotes= banner on June 4
    may remember the picture of my Uncle Jimmy that I carried on my
    backpack.  He was the one with the parrot.
    
    Well, I've just received word the Uncle Jimmy died on Wednesday,
    Aug. 30, of AIDS.
    
    The posting of this note is not to elicit expressions of sympathy
    for me and for our family.  Rather it's to express my own sympathy
    for the suffering -- both physical and emotional -- my uncle and
    others like him are suffering.
    
    During the last months of his life, Uncle Jimmy did not answer his
    phone, because of the harrassing phone calls he was receiving from
    small minds in his small community.  His own brothers, my father
    among them, are unwilling to admit publicly the cause of his death.
    Instead my father informed me that Uncle Jimmy died of meningitis.
    Perhaps that's what the death certificate will say, too.  There'll
    be no funeral, just a small memorial service at the grave for family
    members only.
    
    Uncle Jimmy was an eternal youth and a friend of my childhood.
    
    I'm going to miss him, but I'm thankful he's at peace now.
    
    Karen
    
    

    Karen, I recall that the fellow who was doing the official videotaping
    of the walk for AAC spent a long time photographing your backpack, with
    Jimmy's picture attached to it.  I'm not sure you were aware he was
    doing that.
    
    This epidemic is taking some of our best people.  It's cutting through
    all ages, sexes, and sexual preferences.
    
    love to you,
    Marge
    
    

    That's sad to hear, Karen...from your picture of him, he was a warm and
    loving person filled with life. 
    
    [Hugs]
    
    						=maggie