Feb 27, 2009 9:24 am US/Eastern
CBS 2 HD Becomes AIDS Walk New York TV Sponsor
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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CBS 2 HD announced Feb. 27, 2009, that it had become the exclusive broadcast media partner for AIDS Walk New York, to be held May 17, 2009. It is the largest AIDS walk in the United States.
AIDS Walk New York
CBS 2 HD has become the exclusive broadcast media partner for 2009 AIDS Walk New York, the largest HIV/AIDS fundraising event in the world, the station and event organizers announced Friday.
AIDS Walk New York will be held May 17, 2009. It is staged each year by the New York-based Gay Men's Health Crisis.
"CBS 2 is honored to serve as the broadcast media sponsor of AIDS Walk
New York and we are pleased to offer our full support, both on-air and
online, to promote and support the largest AIDS fundraising event in
the world," said Peter Dunn, president and general manager of WCBS-TV. "We
look forward to doing everything we can to help raise the bar in terms
of increasing the number of participants in this year's event and
raising money to support HIV/AIDS programs in and around New York."
According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, about 100 thousand people in New York are living with HIV, and thousands don't realize they have it. New York has the highest rate of AIDS cases in the U.S., more than Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and Washington, D.C., combined, the department said.
"We are deeply grateful to WCBS for their generous commitment of
airtime and other resources in support of the 2009 AIDS Walk New York,"
said Craig R. Miller, the event's founder and producer. "This powerful
new collaboration between GMHC and WCBS, the leading broadcast
television station in the tri-state area, will not only be of
tremendous help in garnering even broader participation in this year's
AIDS Walk, but also stands to increase the public's awareness of the
ongoing challenges posed by the AIDS epidemic," Miller said.
"Since 1986, AIDS Walk New York has raised more than $100 million for
HIV programs and services in the tri-state area, and has grown into the
largest AIDS fundraising event in the entire world," a news release issued by the station stated. In 2008, AIDS Walk New York raised a record $7 million from donations gathered by 45 thousand participants.
The Gay Men's Health Crisis, established in 1982, was one of the first organizations formed to support people affected by HIV/AIDS and to provide public education about the disease. While it strives to be a national leader in the effort to combat the epidemic, it also helps "more than 15,000 men, women and families that are living with, or affected by, HIV/AIDS in New York City," according to WCBS-TV's news release.
WCBS-TV and wcbstv.com are the flagship station and Web site of CBS Television Stations, part of the CBS Corporation.
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