Members of the Student Global Aids Campaign sold $50 million cookies and $100 million brownies yesterday to protest Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain's vote to table $900 million intended to fight the global AIDS pandemic.
Group members, who wore signs reading "McCain, keep your promise: Fight global AIDS," said they hoped the fictitious bake sale would compel the senator to rethink his decision to vote against the funding.
The bake sale was a means of raising awareness in a community that group members said is generally unaware of the global threat AIDS presents.
"People do not read very much about events that occurred there and the state of it, so I don't think you even have to see it first-hand to feel passionately about it," said group member Anandani Nellan, a molecular and cellular biology senior. "If you were to read the health reports of these countries, it would be hard not to take a stand."
The six women who make up the UA chapter of the SGAC, a
nationwide organization, said they are dedicated to raising funds to combat the spread of HIV and AIDS.
The protesters chanted all the way to the door of McCain's downtown office and presented one of the senator's representatives with a letter asking President Bush to set aside even more funds for the cause.
SGAC members said they hoped McCain would personally send Bush the letter.
In May, President Bush allocated $3 billion to fight global AIDS this year, but only $2 billion was actually funded, said group member Lauren Giesecke.
While McCain supported the original legislation, he voted against a separate, $900 million plan that would have filled the billion-dollar gap, she said.
The protesters said they are unsure why McCain voted against allocating the extra funds for global aid.
"He's been to Africa," said Giesecke, a molecular and cellular biology senior. "He's seen it and I don't think any of us know why (he voted as he did). I'm sure that part of it is his responsibility to other funding."
A spokesman for the senator's office was unavailable for comment.
Campaign members said that they are confident the small group can make a difference because their efforts during the past year have yielded impressive results.
"We did some letter-writing campaigns for (Arizona Republican Rep. Jim Kolbe) last spring, and he ended up putting $400 million on a bill for the global fund," Gieseke said.
Most of the campaign members said they saw first-hand the effect AIDS has on a community when they traveled to Tanzania last year.
All of the women said they feel that the United States is not doing enough to help the global community.
"We come back here and we have the richest country in the world," said Laura Hartstone, an agriculture technology management sophomore. "How can we not use that to our ability?"
Nearly 9,000 people worldwide die of AIDS every day, according to statistics compiled by SGAC.
If HIV continues to spread at current rates, 100 million people will test positive for the virus by 2010.
The SGAC, in cooperation with Students for International Change and the Student Health Advisory Committee, will organize events at the UA for World AIDS Day on Dec. 1.