Aid for Aids (AFA) and Aid for LIFE (AFL) celebrates those who make a powerful and positive impact on the world as they commemorate 25 years of saving lives.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, April 12, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- AID FOR AIDS (AFA) and AID FOR LIFE (AFL) are delighted to announce the date of the upcoming My Hero Gala, Tuesday, May 3, 2022, commemorating AID FOR AIDS’ 25th Anniversary. This year’s event will be held at New York City’s iconic American Museum of Natural History and marks the first in-person My Hero Gala since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The event will celebrate AFA’s beginnings of recycling unused, unexpired HIV medication in 1996 and redistributing them to those in need in low and middle income countries, to becoming a global organization that has sent over $180 million in HIV medication to more than 60,000 people in 70 countries; reaching over one million people with medicine for other health conditions; engaging millions of youth with HIV prevention, empowerment, and leadership tools; and providing innovative solutions to complex social problems in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In New York City and satellite offices across Latin America, AFA provides much needed services to vulnerable communities, with a focus on immigrants and refugees at risk of or with HIV, including but not limited to access to healthcare, food and shelter, legal assistance, advocacy and linkage to local services. To date, AID FOR AIDS has impacted over 5 million people across 70 countries around the world.

AFA works with vulnerable populations including immigrants and refugees through its New York-based programs supporting the Hispanic and Latinx community and through its responses to global refugee crises including Haitians in the Dominican Republic and Venezuelans across Latin America. The organization is currently collecting HIV medication for Ukrainian refugees.

“I am in awe and couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve accomplished as an organization,” says AID FOR AIDS’ Executive Director and Founder, Jesús Aguais. He continues, “This year’s My Hero Gala is a celebration of not only our hard work, but the resilience, ingenuity, and compassion found in so many others around the world. We celebrate the Heroes who have the courage to make a difference in the lives of others and we share the pride in what we’ve been able to accomplish as an organization and our hope and readiness for the future.”

This year’s My Hero Awards will be presented to:

His Excellency Iván Duque Márquez, President of Colombia, who will be honored with the My Hero Award in recognition of his leadership in responding to the Venezuelan refugee crisis in Colombia and for being the first President to approve Temporary Protected Status for 1.8 million Venezuelans.

Globant, the international IT and Software Development company based in Argentina, will receive the corporate My Hero Award for enabling AFA to provide infant formula to 1,300 babies who could not be breastfed by their mothers, helping us guarantee their healthy brain development during their first year of life.

Michael Weinstein, President and Co-Founder of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, will be recognized for his commitment and passion to provide people with HIV with dignified care, as well as his impact in revolutionizing the HIV response through cutting-edge healthcare services and global advocacy.

The organization will also present two special awards that evening:

Azul Positivo, a Venezuelan-based nonprofit that works to educate and raise awareness of HIV prevention, will receive the Daniela and Bernard Chappard Award for HIV Prevention, which includes a $10,000 prize.

The inaugural Terry Riley Humanitarian Award for the Arts, an in memoriam tribute to the renowned architect, will honor Terry Riley’s legacy of social transformation. The award recipient of this award is Bouchra Khalili. Khalili is being honored for her careful and emotional handling of the delicate topic of forced migration through art. Selected by an international committee that includes art advisors, curators, and experts, Bouchra receives the honor over an outstanding group of international contemporary artists. The Terry Riley Humanitarian Award for the Arts also includes a $10,000 prize.

Past Media and Coverage Partners for the My Hero Gala include Time Magazine, The New York Times, Reuters, Financial Times, Vanity Fair, Telemundo, Bloomberg News, CNN, and Slate. Additional Partners for AFA and AFL programs and initiatives include the UN Humanitarian Response Depot, UNAIDS, UNHCR and the Pan American Health Organization.

My Hero Gala is AID FOR AIDS and AID FOR LIFE’s biggest fundraising event of the year, bringing together cherished patrons, partners, colleagues, and friends to celebrate life and honor the individuals, organizations, and corporations who have shown the courage and commitment to help others. The gala routinely attracts 250+ attendees from diverse backgrounds, including business, healthcare, philanthropy, diplomacy, public office, media, and the arts.

Past My Hero Award recipients include influential figures from the public sector, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical Advisor to the President of the United States; Dr. Robert Redfield, Director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2018 - 2021); former First Lady of Colombia, Lina Moreno de Uribe, and former First Lady of Panamá, Vivian Fernández de Torrijo.

For more information on the My Hero Gala, to become a sponsor, or to purchase tickets or tables, please visit https://aidforaids.org/my-hero-gala/.

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Ariadne Rosales
Aid for Aids
+1 212-337-8043
email us here