“I just think its a good way to raise awareness around a college campus,” said psychology sophomore Jill Fahner, who participated with a group of students from Brody Hall.

Biochemistry sophomore Raven Lewis said the location of the event helped spread the walkers’ message.

“We’re walking down Grand River, so people in cars driving by are going to see what we’re doing,” said Lewis, who came with a group of students from the Multi-Racial Unity Living Experience, or MRULE.

Proceeds for the walk went to the Lansing Area AIDS Network to be used for education and prevention services.

“The money we raise from the AIDS walk is used to help aid for care services, which is really the mainstay of what we do,” said Patrick Lombardi, the network’s development director who has served as director of the event since it began in 1991.

Led for the second straight year by Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and East Lansing Mayor Sam Singh, participants poured out of Valley Court Park in East Lansing around 1 p.m. and made their way along a three-mile course that led them along Grand River Avenue to Hagadorn Road and back again.

The event was officially hosted by the Evans Scholars of MSU, which has helped with the set up and promotion for the event for a number of years.

“The principle behind it is that there are a lot of people in the metro-Lansing area who are unfortunately HIV-positive, and if there’s anything we can do about it, we’re willing to come through,” said philanthropy chairman Vince Petros, a human biology junior.

Six other cities around the state held AIDS walks this weekend to raise awareness for a disease that Lombardi says gets overlooked by some citizens.

“I continue to believe that people who are living with HIV and AIDS in our community are stigmatized and marginalized, and I think that by having an AIDS walk we have the opportunity to educate and raise awareness about HIV and AIDS in our community,” Lombardi said.