You can help relieve the suffering of thousands in our community.
You can help relieve the suffering of thousands in our community.
You can help relieve the suffering of thousands in our community. Will you walk with Jane?
Jane Boram began volunteering for Nashville CARES in 1990, when the offices were on Craighead Ave. She became a ‘buddy’ to one of our clients who was HIV+ and had begun showing symptoms of AIDS. Raymond lived near Shelby Park in East Nashville and they spent many hours talking as they strolled through the greenway. There wasn’t a lot of knowledge on treating the disease back then, so Jane knew that Raymond would eventually die – she just didn’t know how much time he had left.
Their friendship lasted six years. During that time, Jane had grown close to Raymond’s mom and step-dad and even their pet poodle, and when the time came, they grieved together at his memorial. It was Jane’s first experience of losing someone to AIDS and it fueled her passion even more to help educate and counsel people caught up in this global pandemic that had reached all the way into her own local community. She was determined that protection, education and awareness could help minimize the suffering of thousands of people in Nashville.  
In 1991, the very first Nashville AIDS Walk was launched, and Jane eagerly participated.  “I felt like this was a very effective way to bring about awareness in our community,” Jane told us. “My church, Christ Cathedral, was just beginning a relationship with HIV/AIDS, so I helped encourage others to do the WALK with me every year. Even our regular priests, as well as our church's African Sabbatical Priests joined us for the Walk.” 
“AIDS teaches us to respect life and to respect those who struggle with medical, social, and job stigmas.”
“The WALK is always such a joyous event, since so many of our LGBTQ community come out in full force and we see diversity like nowhere else in Nashville,” Jane said. “That we can all come together for a single cause, gladdens my heart.” Realizing that anyone can become infected thru needle sticks, blood, or sexual contact is the motivating factor for Jane’s desire to educate the public. “AIDS is not just a ‘gay’ thing,” she explains. “It's universal and all of humanity needs to wake-up and take precautions.  Life is soooo fragile. AIDS teaches us to respect life and to respect those who struggle with medical, social, and job stigmas.”
The Rev. Jane Boram chairs the Reconciliation Committee at Christ Cathedral in Nashville. She has not missed a Nashville AIDS Walk since its inception. And despite being in recovery from her recent breast cancer – Jane is determined to continue the fight to end HIV/AIDS and will be walking in her 25th Nashville AIDS Walk this year! 
“Each year brings out new faces, friends of friends, former church-members who come back from out of state. It's like a reunion,” Jane encourages.  “JOIN US, whoever you are, this year. Spread the joy! Spread the caring! Spread the ongoing mission to end what is still an uphill struggle for thousands. Help us END AIDS!”
 
To participate in The AIDS Walk or to donate please visit http://www.nashvilleaidswalk.com.
[Pictured above is Jane (in green) with her Walk Team at last year’s event.]
Your ongoing financial support provides education, prevention and culturally sensitive care that helps meet the needs of our clients living with HIV and/or AIDS. Our goal is to see the end of HIV and AIDS in Middle Tennessee. It CAN be done! Please help us continue this effort. 
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