• Rhiannon and her daughter holding vigil for those who lost the battle to COVID-19

LANSING - Last Friday, there was a candlelight vigil held in honor of those who lost the battle with COVID-19. The turn out was low but spirits were high as the event host, Rhiannon Klein, along with her husband discussed their experiences with COVID-19 and lit candles for those who lost their lives.

The vigil was sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), a nonprofit global organization. Its mission is to rid the world of AIDS though a combination of treatment, prevention and advocacy.

Rhiannon Klein, Advocacy Consultant at AHF and event host, explains why an AIDS nonprofit is doing a vigil for COVID-19.

“Thirty years ago, when HIV first became a pandemic, we would have many candlelight vigils to honor those who were losing their lives to HIV and we felt that now is the time with COVID-19 and how many people we’ve lost far too soon to be honoring them the same way doing a candlelight vigil.”

Rhiannon and her family want people to do what they can to stop the spread of COVID-19 so that people like her two-year-old daughter can experience what it is like to live in a world without the devastation of COVID-19.