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.”