Winter Ball will support Diana Legacy Fund
Maureen Smith
Issue date: 1/24/08 Section: News
This past fall, Union was enlightened about the AIDS crisis in Africa and the dire need for hospice care in these remote regions when Naomi Tutu, daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, came to speak to the campus.
In response to Tutu's inspirational speech and in an effort to increase Union's involvement in international matters, Union's faculty and students have pulled together and used the annual Winter Ball as a fundraiser for this charity.
Tutu spoke about how AIDS is a universal epidemic that claims the lives of millions of sufferers, yet over three-quarters of the deaths occur in Africa. Moreover, staggering statistics show that 90 to 95 percent of the people in Africa die in pain, because very few of the victims receive the appropriate care necessary for corporeal relief. This inconceivable notion of suffering drives the reasoning behind the setup of the Diana Legacy Fund.
The Diana Legacy Fund, recently launched in 2007, is an international campaign that provides hospice care and other important medical services to people dying of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. In this region, these untimely, cruel deaths result from poor care and the unavailability of medicinal treatments. Named after the late Princess Diana of Wales, a longtime supporter of hospice care for those with AIDS, the Fund is largely due to her memorable visits to Africa. The hope is that those suffering from HIV/AIDS will receive better treatment from compassionate workers in a more peaceful environment. As a result of Princess Diana's work, the Diana Legacy Fund was created so that her passion for AIDS awareness may still live on through the present day.
Union's special connection to the fund is through alumnus Phil Di Sorbo, who helped to acquire Naomi Tutu as a speaker last trimester. Di Sorbo is a founder of the local hospice organization in Schenectady. Through much of his own visits to Africa, he realized the grave importance of obtaining local help for a country that otherwise might have been overlooked due to its remote location.
In response to Tutu's inspirational speech and in an effort to increase Union's involvement in international matters, Union's faculty and students have pulled together and used the annual Winter Ball as a fundraiser for this charity.
Tutu spoke about how AIDS is a universal epidemic that claims the lives of millions of sufferers, yet over three-quarters of the deaths occur in Africa. Moreover, staggering statistics show that 90 to 95 percent of the people in Africa die in pain, because very few of the victims receive the appropriate care necessary for corporeal relief. This inconceivable notion of suffering drives the reasoning behind the setup of the Diana Legacy Fund.
The Diana Legacy Fund, recently launched in 2007, is an international campaign that provides hospice care and other important medical services to people dying of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. In this region, these untimely, cruel deaths result from poor care and the unavailability of medicinal treatments. Named after the late Princess Diana of Wales, a longtime supporter of hospice care for those with AIDS, the Fund is largely due to her memorable visits to Africa. The hope is that those suffering from HIV/AIDS will receive better treatment from compassionate workers in a more peaceful environment. As a result of Princess Diana's work, the Diana Legacy Fund was created so that her passion for AIDS awareness may still live on through the present day.
Union's special connection to the fund is through alumnus Phil Di Sorbo, who helped to acquire Naomi Tutu as a speaker last trimester. Di Sorbo is a founder of the local hospice organization in Schenectady. Through much of his own visits to Africa, he realized the grave importance of obtaining local help for a country that otherwise might have been overlooked due to its remote location.
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