On Wednesday, Nov. 28, UNF’s LGBT Resource Center featured an AIDS memorial quilt, put on display by the North Florida Quilt Chapter of the Names Project Foundation. The quilt is created by the loved ones of those who have died as a result of AIDS/HIV.

The memorial quilt is made up of thousands of panels that could cover the greater Jacksonville area if they were all put together. Additional panels are added often because new names are being added each day.

A portion of the quilt was shown in Osprey Plaza as part of Market Day. To date, more than 6,000 panels have been created. If you were to take the amount of people in Jacksonville who have died due to AIDS/HIV and make a panel for each one , it would fill TIAA Bank Field.

The goal of the quilt is to create a memorial for those who have died of AIDS and to help people understand the devastating impact of the disease.

Healthy Osprey also held its annual pre-event for World AIDS Day. For those interested in learning more about the fight against AIDS, educational pamphlets and condoms were offered as well as verbal information.

World AIDS Day, commemorated on Dec. 1, was founded in 1988 as a way of connecting the global community by educating them about AIDS and memorializing those stricken.

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