NEWS
4A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, APRIL 17, 2006
AIDS
David Noffsinger/KANSAN
Participants in DCAP's 14th annual AIDS awareness walk gather early Saturday morning in front of Macell's in downtown Lawrence. This year's theme was "Hitting the bricks to stop AIDS."
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DCAP surpassed its expectations of money that was raised for the awareness walk. Expectations were set at $12,000, but the organization raised more than $12,400. Starbucks won first place as the biggest contributor.
Erin Chaput, Ellsworth Hall resident assistant and Lawrence junior, invited Geri Summers, the executive director of DCAP, to speak to some of her social welfare classes.
Chaput thought it would be a good idea for some residents on her floor in Ellsworth Hall to get involved and raise money. Eight people who live in Ellsworth walked and several others donated money.
"It was a difficult process to get some of them up at seven on a Saturday morning," Chaput said. "But I think they all had a fun time."
All participants were provided a free breakfast buffet at Macell's, 1031 New Hampshire St., which is where the walk started. NetworQ, a group that supports and educates the gay and lesbian community, put on the breakfast.
Steve Maceli, owner of Maceli's, was more than willing to help out.
"We were providing the breakfast as a service to bring about enthusiasm for the walk," said Kim Kreicker, vice chairwoman of NetworQ. "DCAP is an important organization for us."
"Since my business has started to grow, I've been able to help the group more," he said. "They have supported me when the business was smaller, and now I have a banquet hall and can help them throw better fundraiser's. I support the community and the community supports me."
DCAP was grateful that it could use the facility. In the past, the starting point of the walk has been in various places around Lawrence, such as the gazebo in South Park.
"We like to have the walk downtown," Michele Weigand, member of the Board of Directors of DCAP, said. "There were huge benefits for us having it at Macelli." It gave us a place just in case it rained and kept us downtown, which is where we want to keep the walk."
The route for the walk centered around downtown. Participants could either do a one-mile or a three-mile walk. The three-mile walk took walkers by historical markers of downtown Lawrence, such
as the home of Phog Allen farmer KU basketball coach
Overall, Summers was "ecstatic" about the turnout and the money that was raised.
"This walk shows we have a community that cares for those that have HIV and helps raise money to support AIDS awareness programs," she said. "We help support to give dollars towards HIV testing and free condoms."
— Edited by Janiece Gatson
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Garden
Proctor is an environmental studies major and loves to be outdoors, so this was a great project for him, he said.
He became involved with the project when he was approached by the director of the KU Center for Community Outreach, who asked him to help. Though he wanted to, he said he didn't know anything about gardening beyond the mini garden he grew when he was a kid.
He now knows how to mineralize the garden, set it up for proper drainage and more. Now that the sprouts are up, he said he could see the work he's done and it's "amazing."
"There were weeds the size of me," Proctor said about when they started last fall.
Years ago, the Pelathe center had a garden, but according to Teresa Staskal, director of
the center, the garden was not planted last year. When she was approached by EARTH, who wanted to take over the responsibility for the garden, she was thrilled, she said.
"I thought that was a win-win situation," she said.
The Pelathe center mostly stocks dried, boxed and canned goods in its food pantry, which are given by members of the community, or by a group who has sponsored a food drive, Staskal said.
The garden will add fresh food and variety to the mundane selection they have, she said. Some farmers in the past have donated excess produce, and this year, the center is setting up a booth at the Farmers Market, starting April 29, to collect excess produce, she said.
The Pelathe center's food pantry serves around 75 families with basic food supplies in quantities based on the number of people in the family. The center also is hoping to eventually use the produce from the garden for cooking classes to be held in the center for the community.
Jamil Akram, the other co-coordinator of EARTH and Kansas City, Mo., senior, said that every other weekend, four to 20 people come help with the garden.
It's not EARTH's only project though. It also is involved in the upkeep of the Black Jack Battlefield in Baldwin.
"What we want to do is get people involved in environmental issues," he said. "We tend to lead by example."
He said EARTH also was planning activities for Earth Week, which will include a tree planting, a lecture on how and what to recycle and working more on the Pelathe center garden.
— Edited by Jodi Ann Holopirek
Expo
Flags from about 42 countries hung over each of the tables representing their respective countries. Many more flags stood in the center of the room, making the room colorful. The University owns flags from at least 95 percent of the world's nations, Vargas said, and he came in early to help set them up in the ballroom for the event.
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Displays included clothing, rugs, money from each country laptop computer slide shows and even food samples.
The Saudi Arabian exhibit was by far the largest display, taking up most of the southwest corner of the ballroom. It utilized three tables and formed an enclosure where people could sit and try Arabian food, Saudi traditional coffee, menthol tea, baklava, Bassposah — a sweet corn bread — and dates.
"We tried to mix everything: modern, culture," said Nassar Alshalam, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, graduate student. "We always try to keep our heritage."
Many of the students were dressed in a traditional bshat cloak dress, cloth on their heads and crowned with an iqal, a double-coiled ring that holds on the cloth on their heads. The walls all around the area were filled with posters of Mecca, Saudi Arabian landscapes, photos from a Saudi Arabian photographer and posters that the students had made to inform people about their culture and fashion. Leilah Noguer, Asuncion, Paraguay, senior, sat behind the small Paraguay table at the entrance to the ballroom. She said about four students had worked on their display, which had brochures in English and little figurines to show native clothing; white dresses with colored, full skirts and lace trim.
She said her friend brought the leather-covered thermos and a cup made of hollowed bull horn from home. She said she drinks Yerba Mate tea out of one just like it every day. The cup had a small metal straw with a strainer at the bottom. She poured ice water and the herb into the cup and the straw filtered out the leaves
She said Paraguay was the only nation to have Yerba Mate traditionally. Every other country drinks Mate, which is the same thing, but with hot water. She brought Yerba Mate to the United States with her, she said, because it's so expensive to buy here.
Taiwan's small display of posters, Chinese character cut outs and banners made up their small but eye-catching display. Kuorey Mao, Taipei, Taiwan, graduate student, said he put together the display mostly by himself with materials he got from the Taiwanese consulate in Kansas City.
One poster had a unique coral reef structure off a small island off Taiwan. Though it looked manmade because it looked like a combination between a heart shape and a guitar, he said it was a natural landmark. Another poster showed the Firecracker Festival, where professional extreme sportsman climb up wooden columns to a platform with firecracker columns. It's a race to light the columns first, but the structure is about 10 stories tall, Mao said, so it's quite a challenge.
--- Edited by Lindsey Gold
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