World AIDS Day: Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise - Leadership.

I hope everyone has recovered from their post-Thanksgiving turkey hangover! Now I'd like to discuss with you another important event that takes place annually on December 1st (that's tomorrow if you don't have a calendar handy). That event is World AIDS Day, where the day is set aside as the one day out of the year where everyone on this big planet of ours takes time to support those who are currently living with AIDS, a disease that progresses from infection of HIV, and to honor and remember friends and family that have passed on from AIDS.

World AIDS Day is also a day to focus on fighting HIV and AIDS by raising and donating funds that are used to research medicines and vaccination possibilities. It's a day to learn and help educate others about how HIV is spread and contracted.

Since World AIDS Day began in 1998, each year has been focused on a theme to help generate interest in the cause. This year's theme is "Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise - Leadership." I'm very happy and proud to have been a part of a group of eBay, Inc. employees who have stepped up with their own type of leadership to help raise and donate funds to various deserving Bay Area HIV/AIDS related programs and resources.

First, Curtis Thornhill, from eBay's Rent.com and President of the Board of Directors at the Billy DeFrank  Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender (LGBT) Community Center here in San Jose, headed up a team of three eBay, Inc. employees who participated in the 2007 AIDS Lifecycle, which is is the official cycling event from San Francisco to Los Angeles benefiting the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. Each participant is required to raise $2,500 from sponsorships to ride in the AIDS Lifecycle event. Curtis was able to raise over $5,000 through his efforts and the matching contribution from the eBay Foundation, which generously agrees to match employee contributions to charitable causes.

Next, yours truly from 2004 - 2006 volunteered to organize and lead a group of eBay employees, along with their friends and family, to walk in the annual AIDS Walk - San Francisco.  (This year I elected to just be a participant.) Walkers are encouraged to raise funds through sponsorships, just like the with the AIDS Lifecycle, and the eBay Foundation again matches all participating eBay employees' contributions. They also kick in a special grant of $2,500 when teams of 4 or more employees participate in the event. All of the money raised for AIDS Walk - San Francisco goes to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which supports 42 different Bay Area HIV/AIDS organizations.