WORLD AIDS DAY

Every year since 1988, people around the world have come together on December 1 for a day of unity, support, and remembrance in the ongoing fight against HIV/AIDS. World AIDS Day serves many purposes: generating awareness of the illness, promoting preventative measures, combating misinformation about its spread and symptoms, and destigmatizing the diagnosis. Partnering with Levi's®, CEO John Cunningham of the National AIDS Memorial says, “Together we are helping ensure that the story of AIDS remains in the public spotlight today, in the future, and is used as a teaching tool to bring hope and change in the long struggle for health and social justice.”

When AIDS first emerged in the early 1980s, Levi Strauss & Co. addressed the crisis head-on. “In 1982, a number of employees raised concerns about a little-known and potentially fatal disease. Although unnamed at the time, it would eventually be called HIV/AIDS,” explains Bob Haas, former company Chief Operating Officer at the time. “In keeping with Levi Strauss’ long-standing commitment to employee well-being, I joined employees who were handing out educational materials about HIV/AIDS at our corporate headquarters in San Francisco. My primary goal was to demonstrate the company’s full support for employees impacted – directly or through loved ones – by the epidemic.”

The LS&Co. AIDS Action Group (AAG) formed with its main objective to support organizations that provide services to HIV/AIDS-impacted communities. This included the AAG’s contribution to the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Here, the AAG contributed a denim panel with dozens of letters stitched inside to colleagues and loved ones who had died of AIDS. Co-chair of the AAG Sydney Conner states, “The AIDS Memorial Quilt, and the Levi's® panel for us, is a way of honoring and commemorating all those we have lost and who are affected by HIV/AIDS. AAG is, in part, a space for the LS&Co. community to come together to acknowledge, honor and commemorate loved ones affected by HIV/AIDS.” Maurice Kelly, also co-chair, says, “For me, the quilt is a powerful symbol of the magic that happens when people take action in a very grassroots and authentic way, putting aside their differences and uniting to create community with a shared sense of purpose.”

Levi's® work towards this cause continues since those early days of the crisis. To make a real difference, Haas said, “We had to employ a wide-ranging approach to address HIV/AIDS in the workplace and around the world. This included education, policy change and robust community engagement.” Since 1983, Levi Strauss & Co. has invested $80 million into frontline HIV/AIDS nonprofits in both the U.S. and more than 40 countries around the world. Through these local grassroots efforts, global policy change, and human rights advocacy, Levi's® is committed to working towards an AIDS-free world.

• HIV Racial Justice Now is a national (U.S.) coalition of activists of color and allies advancing racial justice and leadership within the HIV movement in the United States.

• The Positive Women's Network is a national (U.S.) organization of women living with HIV dedicated to strengthening the strategic power of all women living with HIV in the United States through leadership development, community organizing and civic engagement.

• The International Treatment Preparedness Coalition is a global network of people living with HIV, community activists, and their supporters working to achieve universal access to HIV treatment and other life-saving medicines.