"The Importance of Remembering" will be the theme of the annual observance of World AIDS Day at the National AIDS Memorial on Wednesday, December 1, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The ceremony will focus on remembering the 550,000 Americans who have died over the last twenty-four years of the AIDS epidemic. Actor and AIDS activist Judith Light will deliver the keynote address at the Memorial.

"The National AIDS Memorial is committed to making sure our country remembers those who have died of this terrible disease," said Judith Light. "Over one million Americans are living with HIV, 40,000 per year are contracting it and 16,000 die annually -- over 50 percent of those are Black Americans. Forgetting about this tragedy condemns us to many more friends and family members dying.

"The Memorial is filled with so much natural beauty; it is truly a serene place to remember those we have lost. Yet, this observance represents our resolve to not forget the unrelenting spread of a disease that continues to impact every segment of our society and how we must redouble our efforts to eliminate it. AIDS is now the most horrific epidemic in human history," said Light.

This year's World AIDS Day observance will include the presentation of the National AIDS Memorial Grove Award for HIV/AIDS Community Service to Tom Nolan, executive director of Project Open Hand, as well as a performance by jazz recording artist Spencer Day.

For more information about the World AIDS Day observance and the National AIDS Memorial, please call 415-750-8340 or visit its website at www.aidsmemorial.org.

The National AIDS Memorial is a peaceful, seven-acre dell in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California, a living tribute to all whose lives have been touched by AIDS, where people gather to heal, hope, and remember. Passage of the National AIDS Memorial Grove Act in 1996 bestowed national significance upon the Memorial that began as a grassroots effort by local residents searching for a positive way to express grief in a community devastated by AIDS. The Grove is the only federally designated National AIDS Memorial in the United States.