Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/215277
NEWS BRIEFS Valerie Wojciechowicz/Contributed photo WORLD AIDS DAY TO BE OBSERVED BY COMMUNITY ON DEC. 1 The Gulf Coast Affirming Interfaith Network (GAIN) will sponsor the annual World AIDS Day service in Sarasota County at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 1, at the Church of the Trinity Metropolitan Community Church, located at 7225 Lockwood Ridge Road in Sarasota, GAIN has announced. The featured speaker will be Valerie Wojciechowicz, creator of the Living Positive Workshops, who has been providing HIV/ AIDS education to middle and high school students in Sarasota and Manatee counties for 11 years, a news release says. A guest speaker at national conferences and training sessions, she has been honored for her work by Women of Strength and Manatee Red Ribbon, the release notes, and she has been featured on National Public Radio. A graduate of The White House Project, Wojciechowicz serves on the HIV/AIDS Advisory Board of the Florida Statewide Consumer Advisory Group and on the board of directors of Trinity Charities, the release adds. The guest soloist for the event will be Susie Brenner, a Sarasota singer-songwriter. Her most recent CD, And So It Goes, is her sixth, the release continues. "She and her partner were the first to obtain their marriage license following the Iowa decision to legalize gay marriage" in 2009, the release notes. Additionally, Diversity: The Voices of Sarasota will be offering musical selections, along with The Interfaith Chorus. AIDS quilts will be on display and a social hour with refreshments will follow the service.