Marcia Hines Has A Lot Of Heart

Local News, By Christian Taylor, 19th November, 2008

Legendary Aussie entertainer Marcia Hines and over a hundred other people have donated their time, resources and expertise to create a national awareness campaign for this year’s Red Ribbon Appeal.

The Red Ribbon Appeal raises money to fight HIV/AIDS and to help people living with the virus. It takes place every year in the lead up to and on World AIDS Day on December 1.

This year, and for the first time ever, the AIDS Trust of Australia and each state-based AIDS Council have joined forces to produce a nationally coordinated fundraising campaign.

Marcia Hines is the spokesperson for the campaign and she appears in a 30 second TV commercial financed by Foxtel, created by Sydney-based ad agency The Works and produced by Foxtel subsidiary Area 51 and Sydney-based post-production company Engine.

“The concept focuses on people in every day situations who have loved ones affected by HIV/AIDS,” says ACON (AIDS Council of NSW) President Mark Orr. “Their love is symbolised as a glowing red heart which is eventually revealed as a red ribbon. Basically we’re asking people to have a heart and show they care by wearing a red ribbon or making a donation on World AIDS Day.”

Ms Hines says she hopes the campaign will help people understand that with 20 Australians being diagnosed with the virus every week, HIV is still a major health issue.

“I’ve lost friends to HIV/AIDS and I have friends who are living with the virus so it’s an issue that affects me personally,” she says. “Right now there are almost 17,000 Australians living with HIV. When you take into account their partners, family, friends and carers, there are hundreds of thousands of people just here in Australia whose lives have been affected. And while there’s been some important medical advances in recent years, many people with HIV are doing it tough. The Red Ribbon Appeal is an opportunity for us to help these people as well as support programs that prevent the spread of HIV in our community.”

The ad will play as a community service announcement on selected Foxtel channels and on free-to-air TV across the country during November. In addition, the NSW World AIDS Day Committee has arranged for the ad to be played in cinemas across NSW. The print component of the campaign, which was also produced by The Works as well as leading photographer Adrian Cook, will be placed free of charge or at heavily discounted rates in mainstream and community media all over the country.

“It’s an amazing outcome to get a professionally produced national campaign at almost no cost,” says AIDS Trust CEO Nick Toonen, “and we’re incredibly grateful to Foxtel, The Works, Marcia and everyone else who has contributed to the campaign. We’re now hoping lots of other people will show their support and get behind the Red Ribbon Appeal on December 1.”

You can view the commercial at Aids Trust website.

To volunteer to sell ribbons on the street on World AIDS Day or to get a Red Ribbon merchandise box for your workplace or business, please visit: www.redribbonday.org.au.

Your Thoughts

taylor-dayne

said ages ago

i think they need a massive re-structure. they need to go back to being an HIV and health organisation. they are NOT community leaders (all their bullshit racism campaigns and anti-violence stuff is DEAD in the water) and i agree with honest, they have taken on too much. they are too powerful. they've got their fingers in every pie. but how do you fight or argue against them? after all, they're holier than thou, they're all about good, well behaved, healthy, shiny happy gay people. how do you argue against that?

shaynesydney

said ages ago

"..most paid charity workers spend the majority of their time operating programs that directly fulfill their organization’s mission." That would be fine, if there weren't a thousand tales in this city of those in need failed and frustrated by the fucktards of Commonwealth Street, ceejay. And having blown $385,864 on travel - junkets to Banglaore, Bangkok and Barcelona - and $291,609 on decor - after all, what's an AIDS council without a rumpus room and a penthouse - and $122,726 on plonk-ups and parties, you'd have to wonder when they get time to bother with those pesky HIV+ queens anyway. Their output on AIDS services was $659,926 out of $9.7million. Sometime in the last 25 years, AIDS became an industry. And with 'friends' and ex-staffers in state politics and the mainstream media, that's not going to change, they have an entrenched position. Still, there are 20,000 people living with HIV in NSW and in estimates in HIV Futures, more than 30 percent are living below the poverty line. Seems to me they'd be better off if we just shared out acon's $10 million revenue and everyone at acon got a proper job.

taylor-dayne

said ages ago

i am sure there's some middle ground there shayne... but i think you're on the right track. i used to work for the public service, and they have that mentality where it's like "the end of financial year is coming up, so spend whatever money is left - even if you waste it - cos you can't carry the money over into the next financial year... and if you don't spend your entire allocation then you can't ask for the same amount the following year..." and government departments are well known for their atrocious wastage of money... too much red tape, too many committees, too much navel gazing, too many soirees, too much talk, not enough action... i guess they had good intentions once, but now acon seeks to serve acon.

honest

said ages ago

And yet Stevie Clayton's PA has a PA :eek: Sure they deserve the funding for salaries and benefits :rolleyes: I don't want to revisit this all the time, but an event organised earlier this year as a "community" event with the sole purpose of giving the community a voice was yet another event swallowed up by the all mighty ACON (lampooned in the most diabolical way). The voice was taken away and ACON were given a huge kudos by the community. As long as Sydney's gay community continue to cow-tow to ACON they will always be the huge multi-million corporation they are... not the charity organisation we, the community, originally intended it to be. Until the Sydney gay public get off their fat ass and start to do for themselves instead of worshipping ACON who, like any political group, are simply feathering their own nest, none of us will have the absolute rights we should have like the rest of the country.

shaynesydney

said ages ago

I remember when the DoH wanted to take away the rental subsidy that HIV+ people get, acon said it was good because those HIV-phobic public housing estates where they were going to ship them all - like the 'Suicide Towers" - were 'secure housing'. The HIV+'s fought back and lobbied for about 8 months until the DoH reneged and they got to stay in their homes. The SSO headline ran something like, "acon wins great victory for HIV+ tenants." RAOTFLMAO.

AboutMe

said ages ago

Well I dont understand all of that Annual Report but $9.7m coming in and wages cost $5.9m ???????????????????????? what the fark are they on ? I read somewhere that a decenty org costs around 30-40% of the donations to run but thats a whopping 60% just on salaries not taking into account the rent/costs etc. If this is all true then ACON will get nothing from me from now on. Thanks for pointing this out.

marly

said ages ago

Well thats nice of marcia now all she needs is some decent original material for a change LOL

Weasel

said ages ago

To Marcia I say: "You did what you had to do, and I thank you for it."

Weasel

said ages ago

To Marcia I say: "You did what you had to do, and I thank you for it."

Weasel

said ages ago

To Marcia I say: "You did what you had to do, and I thank you for it."

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