Legislators want to extend lottery game helping AIDS fight

• Reprints

Karen A. Yarbrough

Updated: March 9, 2012 8:22AM

Although dollars and cents have driven most of the conversation in Springfield this spring, two Illinois lawmakers say their push to extend an AIDs awareness lottery is a moral issue that is critical to funding the “front line” in the fight against the disease.

State Sen. Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago) and state Rep. Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood) are sponsoring legislation that would extend a scratch-off game — the proceeds from which go to an endowment that funds HIV and AIDs prevention education and treatment — by five years in Illinois.

The “Red Ribbon Cash” game, as it is called, has raised more than $2.4 million for the cause and helps non-profit organizations that are engaged in prevention and serve a population at a high risk of contracting the virus or developing the disease.

“Here’s a program that will give them basic dollars to knock on doors, and then the outreach, whether it be in churches or community organizations or whatever. They can do that work,” Yarbrough said.

Both lawmakers said while they are typically against gaming, it is important for them to reach out and try to end the stigma surrounding the disease that exists in minority communities, which are most affected by HIV and AIDs. They said Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration is supportive of the effort.

“It’s a matter of helping alleviate some of the infectious diseases or issues that confront communities of color on a daily basis,” Collins said. “[This program] not only prolongs life, but gets us beyond the stigma.”