Loud music and crowds with cocktails swarming Fort Lauderdale Beach are pretty common on a Saturday during Spring Break. But the crowd is rarely over 30 and there at nine in the morning. But that was the case on March 21, as hundreds gathered for AHF’s annual Florida AIDS Walk & Music Festival.
Hundreds of people representing dozens of organizations turned out for what appears to be the best attended walk since the pandemic. Walking the 5k was the easy part. The real leg work was done in the weeks and months leading up to the event.
Teams and individuals hit up their friends and coworkers while others held fundraisers. The collective effort paid off, with the running total nearing $3,000,000. AHF will match the money raised up to 100% and teams can add to their total through the end of March.
SunServe is the top fundraising team and its CEO, Tony Lima, is the top fundraiser four years running. He says the key is simple.
“Working really hard to make sure we have amazing partners that understand our mission. What Florida AIDS Walk does benefits our community.”
Organizations at the walk included Broward House, Safe Schools, PRISM, Pride Center, and TransInclusive Group. They all face a similar challenge: existential funding cuts. Florida is slashing health programs including major cuts to the Ryan White Program. The Trump administration runs grant proposals through AI and flags anything with LGBTQ in the text.
After the walkers returned it was time to party. Up-and-coming artist Rinasere opened up with a high-energy set of his own music proving our community loves EDM at 11 a.m. as much as it does at 11 p.m.
Then came the woman everyone was there to see: Queen Latifah. The rapper-actress-producer came out and played all the hits, including her anthem U.N.I.T.Y.
The area in front of the stage was packed and at one point, the artist had a few dozen come on stage for an impromptu dance party. Then she took it down a notch to deliver a message of hope.
“We gotta tighten up. We gotta lock arms. To educate each other. To keep each other up on the latest technology. Whatever you can do to protect each other. Be honest with yourselves. If you can do something as beautiful as what we’re doing today, which is put one foot in front of the other, know that you have done more than what many can do.”
Photo by JR Davis.
