WALKING FOR A CAUSE

Staff at Halifax Shopping Centre store come together to fight AIDS

Since 2004, Roots employee Anne Theriault has participated in the annual ‘Walk For Life’ to help in the battle against AIDS. This year, she also gained support and participation from her coworkers at the Roots store in the Halifax Shopping Centre. Clad in Roots T-shirts made for the International AIDS Conference held in Toronto in August, Anne’s collegues joined her in the 4 km march through downtown Halifax.

“When I saw the crowd of people taking part in the event, I had the wonderful knowledge that I wasn't just walking for something that I believed in,” says Anne, 24, who is a full-time Keyholder at Roots. “I was walking for something that Roots also cared for deeply. And there is no better support that a person could ask for than having the company you work for stand behind something you care about strongly.”

Anne first participated in the ‘Walk for Life’ organized by the Aids Coalition of Nova Scotia (ACNS) when she was acting in a local AIDS-related play. Having been inspired by the thousands of people taking part in the Walk For Life including many who were fighting the disease, she became an active supporter of the event.The ACNS, established in the 1980s, has conducted many fundraising walkathons. Money raised from the events helps to offset medical costs not covered by the Nova Scotia medical system for persons with HIV/AIDS.