This is the eighth year of the Parade of Ponds, said Terry Morrill, owner of Pacific Outdoor Living, a landscaping business that has a design center in La Crescenta.
“It gives our customers an opportunity to talk to the homeowners and ask them questions, like if it’s really low maintenance,” Morrill said. “People enjoy going to nice homes and are willing to pay a price and at the same time, we can raise money for charity.”
This is the first time the AIDS center is a beneficiary of this event, said Anthony Guthmiller, director of marketing/development.
Funds will go to general operations of the center, which provides social services for families and individuals living with HIV and AIDS as well as prevention and outreach programs, he said.
“Last year, every 15 seconds someone tested positive for HIV and this year it was every 9 ½ seconds, which means people are not getting the message,” Guthmiller said.
Public perception is that AIDS is no longer an issue, he said, but it’s still a world pandemic.
“In Southern California, there are 60,000 people living with HIV and AIDS,” he said. “That’s not the scary number. Thirty percent of those, that’s the guess-timate, don’t know they are HIV positive.”
The highest rates of infection in Los Angeles County are occurring in heterosexual females ages 17 to 24, he added.
So the center has three focuses — youth, women and senior adults 55 and older — for its prevention programs.
With the introduction of Viagra, more senior adults are contracting HIV, he said.
The Pasadena center serves 1,200 clients in Los Angeles County and the San Gabriel Valley, he said. Its prevention and health education programs touch 5,000 people in San Gabriel Valley, especially Pasadena, which includes Burbank and Glendale.
