D.C. AIDS walk
raises $400,000

The 19th annual AIDS Walk Washington, held Sunday in the District of Columbia, raised more than $400,000 for the Whitman-Walker Clinic, an AIDS service organization that on Saturday closed a suburban Maryland office because of ongoing financial problems, The Washington Post reports. About 3,300 people participated in the fund-raiser.

Whitman-Walker earlier this year announced programming cuts, staff layoffs, and the planned closure of clinics in suburban Maryland and Virginia because of financial difficulties stemming from a falloff in donations and grants, late financial reimbursements from the D.C. government, and a too-broad approach to programming and outreach activities. But the Virginia state government and local governments in suburban Virginia came up with $600,000 to keep the Arlington, Va., clinic open for the next 18 months. The Takoma Park, Md., clinic closed as planned on October 1.

"This has been a hard year for us," Roberta Geidner-Antoniotti, Whitman-Walker's interim director, told the crowd of about 3,300 people, The Post reports. "But we're thrilled to say we've been able to keep our Virginia site open." (Advocate.com)