{"id":245630,"date":"2012-12-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/a-tree-of-life-for-mamas-kitchen\/"},"modified":"2012-12-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-12-07T08:00:00","slug":"a-tree-of-life-for-mamas-kitchen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/a-tree-of-life-for-mamas-kitchen\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tree of Life for Mama\u2019s Kitchen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elected officials, leaders gather with community for annual World AIDS Day candlelight vigil<\/strong><\/p>\n

Por Antonio Rey | Editor SDUN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mama\u2019s Kitchen and Village Hillcrest came together once again to host the annual Tree of Life tree-lighting ceremony, this year held on Saturday, Dec. 1. The 21st annual event has become a staple for the Hillcrest community, marking the start of the holiday season while remembering those affected by HIV and AIDS.<\/p>\n

\"A
A section from the AIDS Memorial Quilt was on display for World AIDS Day. (Photo by SDUN)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ceremony is considered by many to be the premiere San Diego County event commemorating World AIDS Day, an international movement backed by the United Nations that began in 1988. The tree-lighting ceremony has grown from its start in 1992, with elected officials and leaders joining upwards of 200 community members for the evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorld AIDS Day is a worldwide commemoration, and here in San Diego the Tree of Life lighting ceremony is our unique way of doing it in our community,\u201d said Todd Gabello, Mama\u2019s Kitchen board president. \u201cWe join, not only in unified spirit to remember those honored and recommit, but also it brings us together as a community and a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joining the speakers Dec. 1 was then-Mayor-elect Bob Filner, who took office the following Monday. The theme for this year\u2019s World AIDS Day was \u201cGetting to Zero,\u201d signifying a global push for zero new HIV infections, zero AIDS-related deaths and zero discrimination against HIV-positive individuals. Filner recognized the theme while asking San Diegans to come together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to have everybody in San Diego understand that we\u2019re all in this together. When somebody suffers, we all suffer,\u201d Filner said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to try to put that philosophy \u2013 that sense of humanity \u2013 into practice every day in our city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assemblymember Nathan Fletcher, whose term ended Dec. 2, also acknowledged the \u201cGetting to Zero\u201d theme, saying he hoped the epidemic would be different for his two young children when they grew up.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy hope is that with the continued effort of so many who are willing to stand with you, that 30 years from now they will have a world where equality isn\u2019t debated, it\u2019s just accepted,\u201d Fletcher said. \u201cThey\u2019ll have a world where there is not only zero new cases, but \u2026 zero new deaths.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fletcher has participated in past Tree of Life ceremonies, and said he honored those who openly fought the discrimination and lack of empathy from public officials during the epidemic\u2019s outbreak in the 1980s.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last 30 years, look at what you\u2019ve done. Those of you who led, that went first, look at the attitudes you\u2019ve changed,\u201d he said. \u201cYou went from 30 years ago until today, when the president of the United States hangs a red ribbon on the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mama\u2019s Kitchen Executive Director Alberto Cort\u00e9s called Sen. Christine Kehoe, who was also in attendance, one of those leaders in the initial fight against the virus, saying he wanted to acknowledge her presence in addressing the epidemic in San Diego from the very early days.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always with mixed emotions I come to the podium here,\u201d Kehoe said, \u201cbecause I am really happy to see all of you and to be together once again, and at the same time we\u2019re here because we want to remember our loved ones and friends who have passed away.\u201d<\/p>\n

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said she has seen the fight against the virus change in her years in San Diego as well, including how the initial struggle brought the gay and lesbian community together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember the days when we sort of had a separatist movement, with the women and the men in the gay and lesbian community,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen many of our brothers began to get sick with AIDS and HIV, we had to step up. It made a difference in our community. Now we are one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Combating discrimination was key to what Dumanis said, after she told of a judge who, during the initial cases of the virus, had a courtroom disinfected after an HIV-positive person appeared in the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose days have changed tremendously, though,\u201d she said. \u201cWe still have a lot to do, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m here tonight, to also urge you and thank those that have been in this fight \u2026 and to remind us that the battle is not finished.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kehoe recognized Mama\u2019s Kitchen for their work, along with other local nonprofits The LGBT Center, Christie\u2019s Place, Being Alive, Townspeople and Family Health Centers of San Diego. She asked that people support organizations like these through funding or volunteering.<\/p>\n

Mama\u2019s Kitchen currently has 800 active volunteers, and was founded in 1990 by AIDS Assistance Fund volunteers. Having grown to support individuals affected by AIDS, HIV or cancer, Mama\u2019s Kitchen provides home meal delivery and pantry food services to clients, which number over 570.<\/p>\n

With the help of San Diego County Supervisor Ron Roberts, the organization handed out their six millionth meal in March of this year. Roberts also attended the Dec. 1 Tree of Life ceremony.<\/p>\n

Attendees were able to purchase special heart-shaped ornaments that they could then personalize and hang on the tree, which will remain throughout the holiday season. Village Hillcrest is located at 3965 Fifth Ave.<\/p>\n

Candles were handed out for a vigil, while Perette Godwin of XETV-San Diego 6 emceed. Terry Cunningham, chief of the San Diego County HIV, STD and Hepatitis Branch of Public Health Services, lead the candlelight vigil and members of the San Diego Gay Men\u2019s Chorus sang several holiday songs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we all light a light tonight,\u201d Dumanis said, \u201clet us recommit ourselves to do more, to open our wallets, to educate our friends [and] to make sure that we do whatever we can to help those that need our help.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elected officials, leaders gather with community for annual World AIDS Day candlelight vigil By Anthony King | SDUN Editor Mama\u2019s Kitchen and Village Hillcrest came together once again to host the annual Tree of Life tree-lighting ceremony, this year held on Saturday, Dec. 1. The 21st annual event has become a staple for the Hillcrest […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":245631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"A Tree of Life for Mama\u2019s Kitchen","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}