AIDS Walk New York raises $1.7M this year: ‘I’m going to walk until there is a cure’

Maureen McNamara has participated in AIDS Walk New York since the walkathon began 41 years ago. In the 1980s, McNamara watched the AIDS epidemic claim the lives of friends and community members in New York. For her, trekking through Manhattan each year has become an act of remembering.

“I had a really good friend who had been in the hospital in those days. … Nobody would touch him, so it was very hard,” McNamara told The Advocate. “I'm going to walk until there is a cure.”

McNamara found good company on Sunday, when participants in this year’s walk helped raise more than $1.7 million for HIV service organizations in the greater New York City area, according to Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the HIV advocacy group that organized the event.

Roughly 10,000 people participated in this year’s walk, which marked the 41st annual event, a GMHC spokesperson told The Advocate. Sunday’s walk also featured speeches and guest appearances from several celebrities and elected officials, including actress Rosie Perez, drag star Peppermint, New York City Public Advocate Jumanee Williams, and Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal.

About 10,000 people participated in AIDS Walk New York this weekend, according to event organizers. Jack Walker/The Advocate

Each year, participating individuals and groups walk a miles-long loop of Central Park together, with their coworkers, friends, and family members pledging donations. Major health companies and community organizations pitch in with fundraising efforts, too, and several operate booths offering free merchandise and HIV resources for participants to access.

“The goal is to raise awareness around HIV and AIDS,” said T. Anthony Patterson, vice president of communications and brand at GMHC. “It was birthed out of the movement of the HIV and AIDS crisis, and it’s been going strong ever since.”

This year’s event was given the theme of “Walk Like an Icon.” Patterson said the theme reflected “the style, the resilience and the overall loyalty” of the dedicated walkers who come out each year to participate.

“Our ethos is: Everybody is an icon,” Patterson said. “We’re icons together, everyone who is fighting for our cause.”

New Yorker Maureen McNamara has participated in AIDS Walk New York since it began 41 years ago. Jack Walker/The Advocate

Before the walk began, volunteers handed out water and snacks to participants, and guest speakers delivered remarks to attendees. Chief among them was Perez, a longtime advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and HIV awareness, who served as grand marshal of this year’s walk.

“It takes a village to fight this. But it also takes a village to create a fighter. Every one of you out there that knows somebody, teach them,” Perez told attendees in reference to HIV awareness and activism. “With all that is going on in the current White House, we cannot afford to be silent.”

This year’s walk brought together participants new and old, including long-time walker Shacazia Brown.

About 30 years ago, Brown lost her mother, Wanda, to the AIDS epidemic. The year she died, Brown was walking through Manhattan when she stumbled upon an unexpected procession down Fifth Avenue — an early addition of the annual AIDS Walk, she recalled. Brown said she made the impromptu decision to join then and there.

“I actually started walking. I was late for work,” Brown told The Advocate. “Ever since then, I just got inspired.”

Actress Rosie Perez, grand marshal of AIDS Walk New York 2026, delivers remarks in Central Park. Jack Walker/The Advocate

Today, Brown is the founder and organizer of a years-running advocacy group called Survivors of Mothers with AIDS. The team is currently raising funds to build a school in Kenya and supply it with HIV resources, nutrition supplies, sports equipment, and general educational materials. Each year, she also organizes a walking group, dubbed “In Memory of Wanda,” that participates in the AIDS Walk in her mother’s memory.

Over the years, “my team, we’ve had 250 walkers. The little babies are now teenagers and still walking,” Brown said. “It makes me feel like something is working.”

The presenting sponsor for this year’s walk was ViiV Healthcare, a British pharmaceutical company specializing in HIV and AIDS medicines. The company is currently leading the development of new injectable forms of medicine for HIV treatment and prevention.

“In the pipeline, we have options for a cure” under development, said Amanda Mott, vice president of U.S. market access at ViiV. “It is near and dear to our heart to support this mission and end HIV.”

In Memory of Wanda, an annual walking group at AIDS Walk New York, is led by Shacazia Brown (center) in memory of her late mother. Jack Walker/The Advocate

Looking ahead, Patterson said GMHC is looking for ways to broaden its approach to HIV care. Keeping people safe and healthy requires not just HIV prevention and treatment resources, Patterson said, but also “thinking about the whole person.”

“What we’ve been known for historically is just HIV and AIDS prevention, but we do so much,” Patterson said. “We offer housing. We offer substance abuse [support]. … Mental health services. Workforce development.”

In the year ahead, the organization will look to continue expanding this network of support further, Patterson said. In early 2027, the organization plans to open a primary health clinic and dental office.

“We really are focused on comprehensive care,” Patterson said.

In the meantime, folks like McNamara and Brown say they plan to continue showing up for the walk and supporting an organization they feel is making a difference in New York City and beyond.

“A lot more individuals are vocally speaking on fair treatment, ending stigma, and kind of seeing their aunties and uncles and grandmas not getting the proper health care that they deserve,” Brown said. With more people fighting for people living with HIV, the landscape “has changed tremendously.”