AIDS

[Guest guest]

Back in 1986 i was working in NYC to make some money to support the family.

Besides street skating to stay in shape and busy, I was volunteering time in

some AIDS programs. One was where some devotees were having a meal one night a

week for HIV positive street people, where they could get a great meal

(prasadam) in a nice warm, banquet style place. They was always some

entertainment, not necessarily by devotees, as it was run out of a Christian

church in Manhattan.

 

Connecting from that, I was doing this thing where I volunteered time to a

group that had a grant to promote awareness of how AIDS is transmitted. Even

at that time, it was still thought by many to be a gay disease, and the

challenge was how to get out the info of how it was transmitted, both sexually

and by needles. It was an indirect preaching of the 4 regulative principles,

basically, especially no sex or drugs.

 

What I literally did was go into laundermats and check cashing places and put

up bulletin boards with a variety of information on them, especially talking

about what practices were dangerous. It was places were people would be

congregating, bored, and maybe actually read the info. Never really knew if

it had much impact, but it sure seemed like a good idea to get to people who

might otherwise be apathetic about educating themselves.