AIDS Funds Given a Boost in High Style

They do not have an ultra-chic hair salon like Vidal Sassoon’s in Richmond, Va., but they do have AIDS there.

So on Sunday, as tourist Pat Jacobi sauntered past the trendy shops on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, the Virginia native decided to cash in on an opportunity to get her hair styled and raise money to combat the deadly disease at the same time.

“I just happened to be walking by when I saw the sign for the AIDS benefit so I decided to do it,” Jacobi said as she checked out her new coiffure. “I thought it was something I could do that would be very positive.”

Role for 60 Salons

Jacobi was one of more than 1,000 people in the Los Angeles area who had their hair snipped for $25 or shimmied on dance floors Sunday to benefit local AIDS programs. Jacobi participated in the second annual “Cut-A-Thon,” in which nearly 60 beauty salons from Chatsworth to Santa Monica opened their doors and donated their services for the AIDS Project Los Angeles.

About two miles from where Jacobi admired her new look, Patti Gymrek donned beach garb to participate in a 10-hour dance marathon at the Studio One disco in West Hollywood to benefit four AIDS projects in Los Angeles.

Gymrek, who received $150 in sponsorships to shake and sweat Sunday, said she decided to participate because she has lost several friends to AIDS. Besides, she loves to dance.

“It’s a great cause,” she said as she bounced and wheeled in the dimly lit club. “And it’s a great way to raise money for it.”

Organizers of the fund raisers said the two benefits may raise up to $100,000 apiece.

Marc Powell, a spokesman for the AIDS Project Los Angeles, said the response has been “phenomenal,” citing widespread concern that government funding for AIDS research is inadequate.

Money from the dance benefit will be donated to the Greater Los Angeles AIDS Hospice Foundation, the Shanti Foundation, the Minority AIDS Project and Mobilization Against AIDS.

‘The Need for More’

“No matter how much funding government agencies give for AIDS, there is always a need for more,” Powell said. “There’s no way to keep the funding at a sufficient level to fight AIDS.”

Congress has appropriated $305 million for AIDS education in fiscal 1988 and proposed $407 million for fiscal 1989, increments that would fall short of the National Academy of Sciences recommended allotment of $2 billion in AIDS spending by 1990.

In Los Angeles alone, the city reported 1,580 new AIDS cases last year, overtaking San Francisco as the second most affected city in the country, trailing only New York.

AIDS, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is caused by a virus that destroys the body’s immune system, leaving it powerless against certain cancers and otherwise rare infections. It can also invade the central nervous system, causing severe neurological disorders.

Ralph Payne, who organized the dance marathons (another was held at the Catch One disco in Los Angeles), said the idea was based on a similar benefit held in San Francisco last year.

He said the benefits fill a need in the community that is not met by more standard fund raisers.

“Dancing in general is a very uplifting thing to do,,” he said. “People will leave exhausted, but feeling very good.”