FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 25, 2002 CONTACT Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119 AIDS QUILT PANELS TO BE DISPLAYED AT DRAKE Six panels from the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on display at Drake University from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday, March 28, and Friday, March 29. The display, which is open to the public, will be in Parents Hall at Olmsted Center, 29th Street and University Avenue. Although there will be no admission charge, donations will be accepted on behalf of the AIDS Project of Central Iowa and the NAMES Project Foundation. The quilt was started in 1987 by a small group of strangers in San Francisco who wanted to create a memorial for those who had died of AIDS, and to thereby help people understand the devastating impact of the disease. Twelve years later, the quilt is a powerful visual reminder of the AIDS pandemic. More than 42,000 individual 3-by-6-foot memorial panels – each commemorating the life of someone who has died of complications related to AIDS – have been sewn together by friends, loved ones and family members. Since 1987, approximately 14.5 million people have viewed the quilt in thousands of displays worldwide. Through such displays, the NAMES Project Foundation has raised more than $3.2 million to provide direct services for people with AIDS. The display at Drake will be accompanied by an AIDS Prevention Education Fair in Olmsted Center. Both the display and fair are co-sponsored by the Drake Student Senate, the Student Activities Board, the Residence Hall Association, the Coalition of Black Students, the Greek Programming Council and the Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Drake. For more information, call (515) 271-3711.