justQme.com is sponsoring Therese Pocrnick from Denver, CO. in this year’s Aids walk on August 14th. We are asking individuals and businesses to donate $50 to $100. You name and logo will appear on the justQme.com Aids Walk T-Shirt. Therese will wear this the day of.  In exchange for your donation, justQme.com will be offering a match in advertising dollars to current justQme.com clients upon renewal of their ad. Next year, just mention you donated to the Colorado Aids Walk, and we’ll give you up to $100 off of any product or service we offer. In addition, we will be doing a followup piece with Therese, and mentioning the business sponsors with links to their websites on our blog. This is a very important cause and we thank all of you for anything you can give.

Click HERE to donate – 100% goes directly from your organization to the Colorado Aids Walk, plus you get the tax credit.

ENTER: Therese Pocrnick and continue.

Please send the confirmation of your donation with the amount to von@justQme.com to get your logo on our T-shirt (minimum donation for T-Shirt participation is $50.

Read About Why Therese Walks every single year:

1991. I was 18 and had just come out 6 months prior, when I received news that a friend became stricken with an “unknown illness” in Kentucky. Through the subsequent months, this husky, straight, handsome, muscular man rapidly withered away in a hospital while doctors poked his veins, scratched their heads, and theorized the cause. Only after a battery of tests, and a final “Ah-ha!” moment, did they confirm what no one expected: that he was infected with HIV, and had reached the point of full-blown AIDS. Even worse, he had infected his long-time girlfriend, Kathleen.

AIDS? Impossible.

I grew up in the 1980s, where with each passing month, cases increased at a frightening rate, prompting Ronald Regan completely ignore the health crisis until 1987 – four years before James was diagnosed. The disease was always something very clinical and removed for me – sure I watched the nightly news and read the articles in TIME, but it never seemed real, tangible. Until James.

James suffered greatly, both physically and emotionally before his death – the stigma of his illness exposed for all to see and unfortunately, judge. Back in Colorado, Kathleen’s T-Cell count numbers became the standard response to the question, “How are you doing?” until she eventually dropped out of college and disappeared, rarely to be heard from again.

It became a very Technicolor world for me. At 18, my perspective of the world was altered forever.

Since James’ death, I listened to stories of my ex-partner holding her best friend in Rome on vacation while he battled a brain infection; I played with babies stricken with this illness through ChiP; I delivered meals through Project Angel Heart, and answered phones for CAP. I held hands with those waiting for HIV test results, and unfortunately, I have seen friends die. But most importantly, I have celebrated life with those that refuse to see AIDS as a death sentence.

So, Why do I walk? I walk because I honor the memory of friends like James, lost so long ago. I walk to support friends who fight the battle daily: Kathleen, Robert, Jeff, Tim, and others. I walk to support all those I have encountered through volunteer work with both Project Angel Heart and Colorado AIDS Project. I walk to raise awareness that the AIDS epidemic is not over, and we must continue to fight with each dollar, each step, each voice.

I walk to celebrate Hope. Celebrate Life.

Your donation, no matter how big or small, helps fund over 30 HIV and AIDS Service Organizations within the state of Colorado,  and gets help to those in greatest need. This money goes toward helping thousands of Colorado men, women and children who are infected, as well as toward prevention and awareness.

This is my 15th consecutive year participating in the Colorado AIDS Walk. To date, I have raised tens of thousands of dollars  - dollar by dollar – through the remarkable generosity of folks like you. This year, I am lucky enough to have the backing of justQme.com’s Q-approved businesses supporting this cause. Whether or not you know someone personally affected by this disease, please lend your support to the cause through a donation, a day of volunteering, or by simply giving encouragement to  someone participating in the Walk.

One person can make a difference – don’t you want it to be you??