World AIDS Day remind survivors and organizers about the deadly loss to the disease

There are few things as warm and comforting as a nice quilt. Community organizers in Palm Springs hung name embroidered quilt segments on display in honor of those who have died from HIV.

“Funeral homes wouldn’t accept people who had died of AIDS so there’s nowhere to to grieve, there’s no where to go to remember,” said Quilt of the Desert organizer Kelly Rivera Heart.

Survivors, friends and family took time to view more than 200 names displayed, sharing stories of the people represented by the names. People who fell to the deadly disease.

“It’s important to me. I’m a long term survivor of the disease and it’s still affecting the lives of millions of people all over the world,” said Aids survivor John Paul Valdez.

The Desert AIDS Project says World AIDS Day is key to spreading the word of the ongoing battle.

“It reminds all of us that AIDS is not over that we have a lot of work in front of us but we also have a lot of optimism now because we have the science and the medicine to end the epidemic for the first time,” said Desert AIDS Project CEO David Brinkman.

While many took the night to remember what was lost, survivor Valdez says it’s important for him to be involved because his name could have been stitched on a quilt.