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Griffin Matthew, a Stanford student and volunteer for the FACE AIDS National Team, will be heading to Rwanda this summer to implement a community health radio project. Her program, called "Little Feet, Big Sky," will air throughout Rwanda. It will address topics such as HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment, as well as other health-related issues. Learn more from Griffin's blog here! Read more...

Austin Keeley and Dave Evans, two Stanford students who are spending their summers cycling across the country for FACE AIDS, embarked on their 2-month cross-country journey today! Read their blog and learn all about their adventures by checking out their blog! Read more...

The Ride Against AIDS 2009 begins this Sunday, June 14 at 9AM. Dave Evans and Austin Keeley will head out from the Stanford Oval and begin their two month, 4,474 mile trek to Boston at last. Check out the recently published article about the "Rider-Ambassadors" in the Massachusetts daily newspaper, the Worcester Telegram and Gazette. Read more...

This summer, Griffin Matthew will be working with FACE AIDS to create a community health radio program and text-for-change hotline in Rwanda. The natural pairing of these two global health communication technologies, will hopefully, improve many rural Rwandan’s understanding of HIV/AIDS. She will be evaluating the efficacy of each of these health communication technologies independent of each other, and also together, to determine the best way to maximize the positive results of SMS texting and community health radio programs. Read more...

This summer, two Stanford sophomores will bike 4,474 miles from San Francisco to Boston in order to raise money and awareness for FACE AIDS. FACE AIDS, founded by three Stanford students in 2005 and headquartered in Palo Alto, has blossomed into a national student-focused organization dedicated to fighting AIDS in Africa. Sophomores Dave Evans and Austin Keeley are committed to spreading its message mile by mile. Read more...

On May 10th, United States Senator Richard G. Lugar (Repulican-IN), joined Sarah Kleinman (Executive Director, FACE AIDS) in Indianapolis for a fundraiser to support FACE AIDS. Senator Lugar is the senior most Republican in the U.S. Senate, former Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and co-author of the PEPFAR reauthorization act. With the Senator's help, FACE AIDS has raised nearly $20,000 from generous private donors in Indiana since May 10th.

On May 16th, 37 cyclists and students from the San Francisco Bay Area gathered to complete a 50-mile bike ride around Stanford and surrounding areas to support FACE AIDS. These riders raised a collective $6,500 through personal fundraising efforts, 100% of which will go to Partners In Health to provide free, comprehensive healthcare for the poor in Rwanda. The ride ended at the Stanford Oval, where FACE AIDS had prepared a picnic celebration for the riders and friends. Although it was 90 degrees in Palo Alto, everyone had a wonderful day!

A group of 64 Stanford students contributed to a national fundraiser that raised $37,000 for clean water for African women. The recently announced total is enough to drill four deep wells in Kuria, Kenya. The fundraising effort, which consisted of a nationwide walk across college campuses on April 21, was sponsored by “Be Hope to Her,” a project of Nuru International (a non-profit dedicated to pioneering sustainable solutions to poverty that was founded by Jake Harriman, Stanford MBA ’08). At Stanford, BH2O+ and FACE AIDS worked together to raise money and awareness through this event. Read more...

This article in the Daily Texan calls attention to AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in the midst of the swine flu epidemic. The UT chapter of FACE AIDS has raised $25,000 through the sale of pins and T-shirts for Partners in Health. Read more...

How did FACE AIDS get started at UVA?

Jennn Feigert, Chapter Coordinator at UVA, was interning with Virginia Organizing Project, a grassroots organization dedicated to challenging injustice through empowerment of local communities, when her boss gave her the idea to start a FACE AIDS chapter at UVA. Jennn had learned invaluable organizing and networking skills at her internship, which gave her the tools to build this new chapter. She had never started a club before, and she says that it was “really, really hard” to initiate by herself. By networking with friends like Anna Jacobs and involving campus photographers FACE AIDS grew rapidly on campus in the fall of 2008. The club now has 15-20 members attending meetings each week. “We could not have grown as quickly without each and every person involved,” she says.

What has the chapter been up to?

The “How do you wear your pin?” campaign has been the biggest FACE AIDS effort at UVA. Jennn was inspired by the University of Oregon’s similar campaign and brought the idea back to UVA. The University of Oregon chapter got doctors and other community members to wear the pins, but UVA took it to the next level. They teamed up with ReMiX, a hip-hop a cappella group, to sell FACE AIDS pins alongside the tickets for their spring concert. People with pins received free baked goods at the event. During intermission Jennn gave an emotional speech about the 1994 genocide; the pin table sold out of pins within minutes after her speech, raising over $600 total at the event.

The UVA chapter also came up with an activity called MSD to accompany the “How do you wear your pin?” campaign. MSD stands for Make a friend, Sell a pin, Document it (take a picture of it). Although she initially thought it wouldn’t work, the program turned out to be very successful. People had fun and learned about the work of FACE AIDS at the same time.

What are you most proud of and most looking forward to?

Jennn is most proud of the incredible energy that her team has put into every aspect of the chapter, especially the “How do you wear your pin?” campaign and has taken to affectionately calling team members “rockstars”. A ton of effort was put into the event with ReMiX, and in the end it paid off. The community became more involved with the issues while having a blast at the same time.

Although Jennn is a senior she is really looking forward to being involved with her FACE AIDS chapter in the future, as she recently set up an alumni network for clubs. She hopes that the club will use these alumni resources to expand their reach by being in contact with different communities. Right now, the chapter is focusing on recruiting, campaigning and spreading as much awareness as possible. Jennn says that it is critical to see friends and professors on campus wearing the pins because “proximity is so important in something like this.” The chapter really wants to get Paul Farmer to come speak, but that idea is still in the works.

Congratulations to UVA for their dedication!