Updated Logo: click on Logo. and print it out, and attach it to a recycled container!

1st Button Drop Location: Walker Chapel AME

This past Sunday my sister, niece, and I were able to attend a worshiping service at Walker Chapel AME church in Seattle, WA. The church is the first place to host a Button Drop location, and they have collected over 800 buttons. Their goal is to collect 3,000 and to create a 3D cross! All the young people were excited and focused on collecting buttons!!!! I was impressed by the young people. I love how my idea is inspiring people to get involved and spread the word about HIV through collecting buttons!!! I would also like to thank Stephanie for taking the idea to the youth group. She has gotten the young people invested in the project!!!!!

Mission to eradicate HIV in the Black Community is coming along!!!

a Button Drop Location at Franklin High School!


I am so elated! We already have close to 1,000 buttons collected!!!! It's so amazing. Next week the ladies and I are going to the church to take pictures and see the buttons that have been collect. I want to thank Stephanie S. and the Youth Group for all their help and their excitement!!!!

Ways You Can Help!

You can host your own Button Drop location at your school, office, church or home. Simply e-mail us at unbuttonthesilence@gmail.com and we will send you a template. Once you have the template it can be attached to a clear plastic container, a vase, or a
recycled jar.

All buttons should be mailed to by 12/1/10

Unbutton the Silence c/o
Kiana Davis / H. Jennings
Youthsource
500 SW 7th St.
Renton, WA 98056

PICTURES

We would love to see pictures of all the Button Drop sites. Once you are up and running please e-mail us a picture!!!

We thank everyone for all their support!!!!!

2010 Buttons for Black Women HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign

According to the Center for Disease Control, at the end of 2007 there were an estimated 1.1 million people living with HIV in the United States, of which almost half (46%) were Black/African American. In 2007, the latest rates of AIDS diagnoses decreased among Blacks; however, Blacks still represent the highest rates of infection of any other American race/ethnicity demographic.

Unbutton the Silence is an awareness campaign designed to help Black women break the silence surrounding HIV/AIDS in the Black community. This campaign is not designed to blame or accuse anyone. Our desire is to dispel the myths about HIV/AIDS and promote status awareness. Black women are 23 times more likely than White women to be infected, and for Black American women ages 25 – 34 the number one cause of death are complications due to HIV /AIDS infections.

It is our hope that by collecting buttons from clothing, we can raise awareness about this epidemic that is threatening to tear apart the fabric of our community. The last thing that we want is to stigmatize anyone with HIV/ AIDS. We are simply asking for everyone to donate buttons, and by asking others to donate buttons, a dialogue can begin. We would love to have collection jars in places where they will be seen. Desks in offices, churches, schools and kitchen tables will offer the collaboration we need to make this a successful campaign.

We want buttons but we NEED conversations. We believe that conversations about HIV/AIDS can stop new infections in the Black community. We can no longer pretend that we don’t see and hear what is happening.

The aim of Unbutton the Silence is to turn clothing buttons into artwork that will be sold at a silent auction, and the proceeds will be donated to local area programs that are involved in AIDS testing, awareness, and community outreach. Our target start date for button collection is February 7, 2010 which coincides with National Black AIDS day.

We would like to collect 2,010 buttons by December 1, 2010 for World AIDS Day.