Stomping down the runway with a fierceness unlike no other, members of Radiating Excellence in All Areas of Life, or R.E.A.A.L., host the fourth annual benefit fashion show for HIV/AIDS awareness. President of the organization, Courtney Griffin, along with other participants share why AIDS awareness should be advertised like the next fashion trend.
Members of Radiating Excellence in All Areas of Life, or R.E.A.A.L., and student models strutted down the runway Saturday to promote HIV/AIDS awareness during the fourth annual AIDS benefit fashion show, “Red Alert 2011.”
As models struck fierce poses in front of the sold-out RCAH Theatre, awareness in the form of a social event students can enjoy really hits home, said Brittany J. Sutton, a human development and family studies senior and lead coordinator of “Red Alert 2011.”
“All the proceeds went to the Lansing Area AIDS Network,” she said. “This is our fourth year working with LAAN, and each year we donate the money to a different sector of AIDS. Usually, it’s the teenagers and the youth that are infected with the disease.”
The total proceeds were about $500.
The fashion show featured clothing from stores including T.J. Maxx, 5412 W. Saginaw Highway, in Lansing, Pitaya, 213 E. Grand River Ave., and Underground Printing, 209 M.A.C Ave., said Eric Williams, a psychology senior and student model.
“It’s a good thing just to make sure that everybody is aware of HIV/AIDS, especially in the black community,” he said. “It was a good way to get people out — to educate them and to show them a great show at the same time.”
With 28 percent of MSU students having been tested for HIV, according to the Olin Health Center website, AIDS is a topic that has remained taboo for too long and needs to be spoken aloud, said Felix Sirls, an AIDS activist and counselor for early intervention and prevention programs at the Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion.
“You guys are our future, and you have been through so much just to get into college,” he said. “We want to make sure that you get through, and get through safely … that you all live out your lives and not have them robbed from you, or taken from you because of an STD or virus or a disease.”
Alerting the campus to HIV/AIDS awareness is a very important form of community outreach for R.E.A.A.L. because community service is what the group is founded on, said Kristian Grant, R.E.A.A.L. founder and MSU alumna.
“R.E.A.A.L. was created with the idea that we wanted to bring all women together on campus,” she said.
“I really wanted to create a place where young women could come and create their own network, and I love to see how members come together and share their dreams and ideas, and they click.”
The organization recently achieved its long-time dream of becoming a nonprofit group and hopes to spread their organization to other campuses, Grant said.
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