Students of Iowa State and residents of Ames will join forces to raise money for AIDS awareness this Sunday afternoon.

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, room 64 in the Memorial Union, and the AIDS Coalition of Story County will be joining forces for an AIDS Awareness Walk, a rally and plays dealing with issues related to the disease.

People will begin walking at 1 p.m. from the rear parking lot of the Sears store at North Grand Mall. The walk will cover a large portion of the Ames community before the participants reach the Campanile on ISU’s central campus.

The walk is open to anyone. Those who wish to participate can join the event until the walk begins. The entry fee for the walk is $5, according to Pam Carrine, the director of the AIDS Coalition of Story County.

In an effort to encourage people to gain sponsors, the group is offering an incentive of a free AIDS walk T-shirt to anyone, whether participating or not, who is able to bring in at least $30. Shirts can be picked up at any time from the coalition’s office in the Colorado Junction Plaza, 113 Colorado.

When the group finishes its trek to campus, there will be speakers talking about the realities of living with AIDS in Iowa. Carrine said that the rally will feature several speakers who have spoken at ISU before, including a man who contracted HIV through drug use and a woman who got it from her long-term partner.

“We are using speakers who do not fit the Iowa stereotypes of AIDS,” said Carrine. “People here still think that it’s a gay disease and not a heterosexual problem.”

After the speakers, two one-act plays will be performed by students from Ballard High School, Huxley.

The first play, entitled The Inner Circle, is the story of a group of friends with one member who is HIV positive. The second play, Removing the Glove, puts a new spin on the issues that homosexuals face by transferring the attitude that is sometimes used against them onto people who are lefthanded.

Although the walk is not the first of its kind either in the nation or in Ames, Carrine said it is unique because of the student involvement.

“It is really wonderful to have people from the university and people from the community working together to put a dent in the problem,” said Carrine. “It’s really exciting to have people working to educate themselves.”

Although Delta Sigma Theta is one of the sponsors of the event, it is not the only student group involved in the event. Carrine said the Golden Key Honor Society is planning on making a donation to the group so it can send some of its members to Washington D.C. for the display of the entire Project Names AIDS Quilt. She said that several of the group members were planning on dedicating 6-foot by 3-foot squares, roughly the size of a human grave to the quilt, which covers more than 15 city blocks.

Even though the timing of the event is so close to finals, Carrine said she is still hoping for a turnout of 150 to 200 people.

“The more of us there are, the more visible our concern becomes and the more people will notice our message,” Carrine said.