NYCAAP Holds Open House And Training Next Week

By Tanjua Damon

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has released data from the first half of 2000 showing that 16,000 Americans were dying from AIDS and 40,000 others were becoming infected each year with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). AIDS has killed about 450,000 Americans since it was recognized in 1981.

NYCAAP (Newtown Youth Creating AIDS Awareness for Peers) is a Newtown Youth Services organization that fosters HIV/AIDS awareness, education and risk reduction among young people, and tolerance for persons living with AIDS.

The group of high school students is always looking for new members and is preparing for the upcoming school year. On Monday, August 20, from 6 to 7 pm, at Newtown Youth Services at 41A Main Street, an open house will be held for those interested in becoming new members willing to commit their time and help with the NYCAAP mission.

A training session is planned for Friday, August 24, from 8:30 am to 1 pm, at Cyrenius H. Booth Library. New members and teachers will be provided with information about HIV/AIDS as well as listen to guest speakers who deal directly with the disease.

NYCAAP was created in 1995 and is supported in part by a grant from the State Department of Public Health, private donations and agency support. The organization annually distributes to schools and the community AIDS education materials and ribbons for World AIDS Day on December 1; collects items for the Personal Goods/Needs Drive for local agencies serving AIDS patients and their families; is a Bread & Roses Holiday Gift Drive sponsor; and does community outreach, education and direct service projects. Additionally, the organization sponsored the 1997 and 2000 displays of NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.

This year students in the eighth and tenth grade will have presentations about AIDS in their health class by NYCAAP members. The presentations for eighth graders provide basic facts about the virus, risky behaviors, and modes of transmission. The presentation for tenth graders will address the affects of the virus through an exercise in which the students are given a scenario where an engaged couple sits down to figure out their past history. In the end it shows how everyone ends up on the same quilt.

“We feel that it is coming from youth, they are getting the information from someone there age,” Laura Amodeo, a tri-chairman said. “We hope the message gets across better.”

NYCAAP meets every Tuesday from 5:30 to 6:30 pm at the Newtown Youth Services office.

“I joined because I had a friend who was in it and I really knew nothing about it,” Miss Amodeo said. “The things I really like about being in this program is what you learn. There are a lot of things they don’t teach you in school that could save your life.”

It is important for the youth to have access to information about societal issues that affect them, according to NYCAAP advisor Jane Todorski. The youth need to understand the world and be respectful.

“There is that whole issue that kids need to understand,” Ms Todorski said. “People need to be respectful of themselves.”

During the training session on August 24, NYCAAP members will hear from Bonnie Edmonson, the HIV coordinator for Connecticut State Department of Education, Bureau of School-Family-Community Partnerships; Jane Burgess, the director, and Karina Danvers, the coordinator of Connecticut AIDS Education & Training Center at Yale School of Nursing.

For more information about NYCAAP call Newtown Youth Services at 270-4335.