Red Ribbon Events

Red Ribbons are folded manually by various volunteers throughout Germany. Currently, we have so many supporters on our list that we don't need any additional help at this time. The Red Ribbons are distributed in public at various events. Usually we also ask for a voluntary donation. That way we can raise awareness for people living with HIV and AIDS while at the same time collecting funds which are so important to support those affected.

So far the most successful events have been the tours of big music stars where we distributed Red Ribbons at all German shows of the respective artist as listed in the following:

Artist	Donations
1994 Meat Loaf	approx. 13.000,- DM
1995 Take That	approx. 13.000,- DM
1996 Tina Turner	approx. 55.000,- DM
1997 Michael Jackson	approx. 35.000,- DM

In the meantime, those events are carried out on their own by most of the local AIDS groups which have been working with us during the tours listed above on their own. Hence, there is no longer a need for Red Ribbon Germany to coordinate these events for the major cities in Germany.

Furthermore, we have organized Red Ribbon events at various locations, e.g. on the occasion of the movie "Philadelphia" in many cinemas all over Germany, at vernisages of diverse exhibitions, and we are of course a regular guest at annual events such as Christopher Street Day and World AIDS Day on December 1.

Very often I am contacted by individuals who plan to distribute Red Ribbons at their wedding or birthday celebration, companies use the AIDS awareness symbol for internal events, shop owners place a box with Red Ribbons as well as a collection box on their cash desk, or students organize a special AIDS related event at their school. Most times these individuals collected some hundred Euros which is more than enough to give direct support to those affected. For more details about how the money is being used, please see the website of the German AIDS Foundation of which Red Ribbon Germany is a supporter.