Student organization hosts 5K run for HIV awareness
November 30, 2007 by PEARMAN PARKER
Filed under News
A campus ministry is hosting its first 5K race to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS in South Africa for World AIDS Day Saturday.
UGA Crossroads organized the Crossroads 5K Run for Hope+ to raise money to send members to Durban, South Africa, to do relief work in addition to ministering.
“One in two are diagnosed with AIDS,” said Thomas Tyner, a member and junior from Cumming. “It’s the most prevalent area in South Africa.”
The $20 registration fee will contribute funding to the trip to Durban, Tyner said.
“One of the big things as an organization is to move to ‘good news, good deeds,’” said Jay Bosley, a minister in charge of overseas partnership.
Bosley said ministering and physical relief were the “good news” and “good deeds.”
Sexual purity, Bosley said, was something University students would teach during their six-week summer trip to Durban.
“If students are able to live in sexual purity, students can have an impact on the AIDS crisis,” Bosley said. “Condom distribution is not the answer.”
The answer is through abstinence before marriage and monogamy during marriage, he said.
“AIDS could be solved,” he said.
Bosley said University students aim to change the cultural perspective of what sex is and its purpose during their summer experience.
“I’m excited because I think it’s an awesome opportunity to raise awareness about AIDS in South Africa and a good opportunity for the ministry to show what God’s doing here in Athens through Crossroads and around the world,” said member Jess Roth, a senior from Buford.
Registration is from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. followed by a start time of 9 a.m. at Stegeman Coliseum.
