Lighting the Grove to bring hope

“As a man living with HIV/ AIDS, I see that San Francisco is looked on as a light of consciousness. The Grove and the Quilt are symbols of that. By lighting the Grove, we are remembering collectively the light of those we lost, and the light of hope that has helped us turn the corner on this terrible disease we’ve been fighting here for more than 40 years,” he said.

For more than 30 years, the memorial has had a longstanding partnership with the City of San Francisco and its Recreation and Parks Department, working together to care for the Grove with gardeners and volunteers. Grove staff and volunteers are readying for the World AIDS Day events, which are expected to draw many visitors to the outdoor events. They have been working to plant flowers and prepare the landscape for visitors new and old to the Memorial.

The Grove’s full-time gardener is an employee of the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, which provides year-round support for a gardener who cares for the 10-acre memorial.

Rec and Park, along with the San Francisco Parks Alliance will kick-off regular weekly programming in the Music Concourse on World AIDS Day, for the public to experience free light displays and poetry reading in Golden Gate Park’s Music Concourse, adjacent to the Grove.

“What inspires me about the Grove is that it is has a spirit like nothing else I’ve experienced,” said the Grove’s gardener Jennifer Walton. “There are so many people connected to this space and their love can be seen every day. It makes me want to make sure that I do all I can to help honor the spirit of this space by helping care for it, and ensure the beauty and healing it provides to so many.”

Support for the free public events on Dec. 1 has come from many partners and individual sponsors like Gilead Sciences, Quest Diagnostics, Chevron, Levi’s, UCSF, BioMarin, Twitter and the Golden State Warriors.

By organizing these events for the public, the memorial hopes to garner greater awareness about HIV/AIDS today, and the importance of bringing hope and light to people all across the country on World AIDS Day.

NATIONAL AIDS MEMORIAL National AIDS Memorial CEO John Cunningham looks at names with two Pedro Zamora Young Leaders Scholarship recipients.

TRISH TUNNEY PHOTOGRAPHY National AIDS Memorial Board Member Lonnie Payne-Clark shares his story as a long-term survivor at June 5 ceremony.