Subject: AIDS Quilt to be displayed in Hays, Kansas

From: Kevyn Jacobs <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 1995 15:42:15 -0500 (CDT)

FROM THE UNIVERSITY LEADER
FT. HAYS STATE UNIVERSITY
HAYS, KANSAS, USA
APRIL 14, 1995
==========================

AIDS Memorial Quilt will be displayed at FHSU

by Scott Aust
Editor in chief

PHOTO: The AIDS Quilt
CAPTION: The NAMES Project Foundation in San Francisco has given approval
for 888 panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt to be displayed in Gross
Memorial Coliseum, Sept. 21-24.

A portion of the AIDS Memorial Quilt will be displayed at Fort Hays State
next fall, President Edward Hammond announced yesterday.

The NAMES Project Foundation in San Francisco has given approval for 888
three-foot by six-foot panels to be displayed in Gross Memorial Coliseum
Sept. 21-24. Each panel commemorates the life of someone who has died of
AIDS.

Hammond said, "We believe (this event) is going to be critical and
important not only for the university but also for western Kansas."

The AIDS Memorial Quilt aims to help bring an end to the AIDS epidemic by
providing a means for remembrance and healing, illustrating the enormity
of the epidemic, increasing public awareness, assisting with HIV
prevention education, and raising funds for community based service
organizations, according to a press release.

"I'm very pleased to join with community members. students and members of
our staff who worked so hard to bring this quilt to Kansas and western
Kansas," Hammond said.

Hammond thanked Patti Scott, director of student health, and IB Dent,
director of the University Activities Board, for their work in bringing
the Quilt to Hays.

"I think the quilt's display here is going to be an eye-awakening
experience for our students, faculty and staff," Hammond said.

Hammond said there will be a lot of local interest in the quilt as several
families in western Kansas have expressed a desire to bring their own
sections of quilt as part of this event.

According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, as of Dec.
31, 1994, Kansas had 1,304 reported cases of AIDS. A recent study by the
Kansas Hospital Association indicated northwest Kansas has the third
highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the state. Southwest Kansas has the highest.

Byron Cook, a 1974 FHSU graduate, is representing the NAMES Project
Foundation as the Quilt Display Coordinator for the Hays event. Cook is
executive director of the Shawnee County Medical Society, Topeka.

Cook said he was "honored" to be a part of this display.

"I think it's important that we bring the quilt and the message it has to
western Kansas. AIDS is an equal opportunity disease," he~said. "It
doesn't care who you are."

Work on the Hays' display began about a year ago according to Scott. She
said the quilt in its entirety covers 17 football fields.

"As large as that seems to us, it only represents 12 percent of the people
(in the United States) who have died from AIDS. It's pretty incredible,"
Scott said.

Hammond said the Hays display will fill Gross Memorial.

Panels will be laid on the floor and will be hung from railings.

Scott presented a video tape which explained the origins of the Quilt.

The Quilt was conceived in 1985 by San Francisco gay activist, Cleve
Jones.

Jones was inspired by a candlelight march in which people taped the names
of friends and lovers who had died of AIDS to a building, giving it the
appearance of a patchwork quilt.

Scott said individuals may create a Quilt panel in memory of a loved-one
who has died from AIDS.

She also said she is available to make presentations about the project to
community organizations.

"Hosting the Quilt, really does fit with the university's role as an
institution of higher learning by advancing awareness and education of HIV
and AIDS in our region.

"There's a myth that it doesn't cross Highway 81, and that's not true," he
said.

Scott said the project will require about 1,000 volunteers during the
display weekend and to serve on committees.

"This is a big project," Scott said. Volunteers are needed to set up,
break down and monitor the Quilt, serve at information tables, greet and
give emotional support to public viewers, and check in other volunteers
and new quilt panels.

Any individual, business or organization may call Ellie Gabel at (913)
628-4293 to volunteer or make a donation.