Stephen Lewis's 'A Dare to Remember' Challenges Canadians Special

The Stephen Lewis Foundation is challenging Canadians to do something extraordinary to help defeat AIDS in Africa. How extraordinary is up to your imagination. What would you do to help a continent that is suffering? Would you canoe down Bay Street?

The Dare To Remember fund raising week will run October 17-25, 2009. The foundation is asking for you to make a dare which can be funny, sporty, healthy and ask others to sponsor you. Canadians that have already taken up the challenge include Natalie Brown (star of CBC’s Sophie), Jake Gold (renowned artist manager and judge on CTV’s Canadian Idol), Jeff Kassel (star of Gemini-nominated comedy series, Testees), Romina D’Ugo (actress and top 20 finalist from last season’s So You Think You Can Dance Canada), Amy Lalonde (actress on CBC’s Wild Roses) and Ngozi Paul (star of Global TV’s Gemini-nominated Da Kink in My Hair). The proceeds from the dares will be used by the Stephen Lewis Foundation to help organizations in 15 sub-Saharan African countries that are community based. These groups help in every aspect in the fight against HIV/AIDS from counseling to helping grandmothers care for their orphaned grandchildren. Since 2003 the foundation has funded more than 300 projects.

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Grannies support the grandmother who lost her grandchild

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Stephen Lewis is a Professor in Global Health, Faculty of Social Sciences at McMaster University, and he is Co-Director of AIDS-Free World in the United States. He wrote Race Against Time.He was awarded the Pearson Peace Medal in 2004 by the United Nations Association in Canada.

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Namibia — Susmitha and Stephen Lewis embrace

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Micol Zarb, Director of Communications for the Stephen Lewis Foundation talked about the foundation and the Dare To Remember fund raising drive. I asked Zarb why the Stephen Lewis Foundation focused on HIV/AIDS in Africa. Zarb explained that Stephen Lewis was for many years the UN envoy to Africa dealing with the medical crisis there. While he was in field he saw the great works being done but also saw that the grassroots efforts were being ignored. He knew that this was the one way that had to be serviced. Lewis and his daughter founded the Stephen Lewis Foundation 6 years ago with the goal to help support the community based grassroots projects. "The community grassroots groups take in a holistic approach often missing in the larger organizations. They are dealing with the issues in their own communities. This is the greatest catastrophe of our time (AIDS pandemic). The foundation exists to support the efforts of those in the communities and that effort that the grassroots groups have put in."

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Stephen Lewis marches in Toronto with Alicia Keys and grandmothers from Africa and Canada

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Zarb said that the Dare to Remember is a stand in solidarity with our neighbours in Africa. Those who are living with the issues that the HIV/AIDS pandemic has brought on such as children becoming head of households and grandmothers having to raise their grandchildren are struggling to go above and beyond. They are truly an example of living live to extraordinary means. "The Dare to Remember campaign lets Canadians celebrate the strengths of those in Africa dealing with AIDS. It is a simple, easy way to do something as a whole. Our 75,000 donors are creative and bring that creativity to the ways that they donate. For the week in October we will stand as one to become extraordinary in a collective show of force." For every dollar donated to the Stephen Lewis Foundation at least 80 cents goes directly to the projects. The administration costs are as low as possible. The Stephen Lewis Foundation has over 20 staff in Canada and about 6 field reps in Africa overseeing the over 300 projects underway.