TEAM JESSICA

Team Jessica came together in 2002, organized by her mother Sandy, a year after Jessica tested positive for HIV while at university in Montreal. The family initially reacted with shock, sorrow and anger -- and then with acceptance and action. "The Walk brought us together," Sandy says. It was Jessica’s teenage cousin’s idea, Lenny, to form the team. Much of the family, immediate and extended, rallied to the cause.

Team Jessica raised $14,261 in 2009 -- and since starting in 2002, over $95,000 for ACT.

Every year at the Scotiabank AIDS Walk for Life Toronto, members of Team Jessica don blue t-shirts with a cluster of yellow stars. "Everybody is a star," Sandy explains.

Thank you, Team Jessica!