ABERDEEN – As part of a special weekend devoted to social action, sections of the internationally celebrated AIDS Memorial Quilt – the 54-ton handmade tapestry that stands as a memorial to more than 90,000 individuals lost to AIDS – will be on view from May 1-4 at Temple Shalom of Aberdeen Township.
The Social Action Committee of the temple, which is at 5 Ayrmont Lane, is hosting a free display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
The quilt will be on display from May 1-4, during normal temple hours with special events to take place throughout the weekend.
The weekend events will begin May 2 at 7:30 p.m. when Lori Tarke, a national speaker on leadership, social awareness and diversity, will talk about the quilt and answer questions.
The Brotherhood of Temple Shalom will host a blood drive during the display of the quilt on May 4 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The quilt will again be available for viewing starting at 7 p.m. May 4 during theAberdeen Community Choir Fest, during which other community choirs will join the Temple Shalom choir in song.
“The NAMES Project Foundation has partnered with hundreds of organizations around the country to try and get every 12-foot-by-12-foot block of quilt – almost 6,000 blocks – on display. We are so grateful that Temple Shalom is part of this ambitious grassroots effort to raise awareness and save lives,” said Julie Rhoad, executive director of The NAMES Project Foundation, the organization that is the custodian of the quilt.
TheAIDSMemorial Quilt began with a single 3-foot-by-6-foot panel created in San Francisco in 1987.
Today, the quilt is composed of more than 47,000 individual 3-foot-by-6-foot panels, each one commemorating the life of someone who has died of AIDS.
These panels come from every state in the nation and every corner of the globe and have been sewn by hundreds of thousands of friends, lovers and family members into a memorial, the largest piece of ongoing community art in the world.
Rhoad adds, “These handmade blocks, created by friends and family, tell the stories of individuals who have lost their lives to AIDS. We bring you their stories in the hope of inspiring compassion, healing and personal responsibility.”
For more information on The NAMES Project and TheAIDSMemorial Quilt, visit aidsquilt.org or call national headquarters at (404) 688-5500.
For more information on viewing the quilt, call the temple office at (732) 566- 2621 or visit www.templeshalomnj.org.