Last week, Facilitator Kate Brown and I traveled to Huntsville, Alabama to record stories with AIDS Action Coalition, an organization that provides health services for HIV-positive patients as well as education and resources for northern Alabama residents. This year, AIDS Action Coalition celebrates its 20th birthday. To mark the occasion, former and current employees, directors, volunteers, and friends interviewed each other about how HIV/AIDS touched their lives.

At WLRH Studios, the local NPR affiliate, Kate and I listened to and recorded stories about the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the United States and the origins of AIDS Action Coalition. In an effort to help friends with HIV, a handful of individuals raised money in a variety of ways. One fundraiser consisted of selling an extensive collection of pornography donated by one person. The interviews gave some participants the opportunity to remember and celebrate the lives of friends and family members who died of AIDS. Thank you to everyone for sharing your memories, stories, and histories with us. Happy birthday AIDS Action Coalition! To the next 20 years of great work in the community!