Last year, when team coordinator Pam Hicks began counting the record-breaking returns from AIDS Walk St. Petersburg, she started to sob: "I was matching the dollars with the faces of the people it would help." It's been a quarter century since AIDS first surfaced, but there is still no cure and there are still too many people in need of such help: Florida now ranks third in the nation in the number of reported AIDS cases. But there is hope in events like the walk, which has set a fundraising goal this year of $70,000. One hundred percent of proceeds from the third annual event will support the AIDS Service Association of Pinellas' For AIDS Care Today, a program that provides medical financial assistance for employed HIV-positive Pinellas residents. Participants can register online prior to the walk or in person Saturday morning. The route begins at North Shore Park in downtown St. Pete and proceeds in a leisurely, mostly waterside 5K loop, culminating with a concert by Double M Band and Alan Darcy. Later on, there's a post-party benefiting the walk at The Kizmet (a new St. Pete club) and a RockAIDS concert at Jannus Landing. Sat., Sept. 9, 9 a.m. registration, 10 a.m. start, North Shore Park, 12th Avenue N. and North Shore Drive, St. Petersburg. 727-523-AIDS, www.aidswalkstpete.org.
