I am walking for those we have lost to AIDS, for those now effected by it, and most importantly, for those who are yet to be effected by it. To show the world that one person is willing to do their best and make a difference toward a better world. To show that those who have been lost will not be forgotten, and to show that those who are still with us should never lose hope.

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I will be walking 60 miles from West Point to the United Nations to find a vaccine for AIDS. I have committed to raising $3,000 by my deadline of June, and I am asking for your help. One single dollar will help in the fight for a vaccine. But if you will give one dollar, how about $20, $50 or even $1,000? What about $20 or more a month for ten months? What about $30 per month. . .one dollar a day, for ten months? With such a commitment you will have donated a full $300. What seemed at first a mere effort, will end up making a giant impact on AIDS research.


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-AIDS is bigger than most people think: 75 million adults and children around the world will die of AIDS in the next 20 years in the absence of a vaccine — the worst human catastrophe the earth has ever known.

-Every day 16,000 people become newly infected with HIV.Worldwide 21,800,000 people have died of AIDS. Itis estimated that there are 36,100,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. 1,400,000 are children under 15.

16,000 people become newly infectedwith HIV every day. That's correct -- every day.95% of them are the poorest of the poor, and will die without a vaccine. sadly, these people are written off. "They're all dead already'" a U.S. official told The Washington Post. "They're just still walking around." The miracle drugs known as protease inhibitors, widely available in the U.S., are far too expensiveand complicated for the poor nations of the world. The following statement of inequity is outrageous: fewer than 2%of those infected have access to these drugs. We must do something. Anything. Everything.

Of the current 34.3 million cases of AIDS and HIV worldwide, at least 30 million are the poorest of the poor, living on less than $2 a day. The typical protease inhibitor regimen costs $12,000 a year.

The President of Botswana recently warned of the oncoming extinction of his people. One of every three adults is infected. Life expectancy there, which reached as high as 62.5 years in 1990, has plummeted to less than 35. The same phenomenon is occurring in many other Sub-Saharan African countries.

According to Nelson Mandela, in South Africa one out of every two young people will die of AIDS. The Tanzanian President has said that AIDS is now affecting the nation's economy because much of the work force is dying.

The magnitude of the death that will occur in these poor nations over the next ten years would lead you to believe that the numbers are wrong. The death toll will occur swiftly, probably within ten years. During that time some 20 million people will die and, in the absence of a vaccine, another 50 million will become infected. That number is correct -- 50 million people.

As adults die, their children become orphaned. Already 12 million orphans wander the dusty village streets of Africa, parentless, homeless and vulnerable to exploitation.

For these people — indeed for the world — a vaccine is the only solution. It is simple, it is relatively inexpensive and it is a universal solution.