The second-annual Friends-Together bike ride fund-raiser kicked off with a dinner at B. Merrill's on Tuesday. The ride starts today at the Old Capitol and travels through Perry, Ocala, Lakeland and ends Sunday at Gulf Coast High School in Naples.

"Last year the ride raised $13,000, and this year it looks like $20,000," said Cathy Robinson Pickett, founder and director of Friends-Together, an HIV/AIDS advocacy group.

Pickett, sexually assaulted and infected with HIV in 1984, started the Lakeland-based center in 2001. The Tallahassee native and 1983 graduate of Godby High School has spent the past 10 years traveling throughout the state speaking at schools, churches and prisons about HIV/AIDS education and prevention.

"The ride is raising funds for our weekend empowerment camps," Pickett said. "The camps are held for anyone who has been infected or affected by HIV. They are fully staffed by volunteers and focus on all of the things that can help people learn to live with the disease."

There are classes on working medicine into a daily routine, as well as classes on preparing living wills and guardianships. The camp also has a ropes course, and families participate in activities such as canoeing.

"We really want to raise awareness of the disease," Pickett said "which is why we say only men, women and children get AIDS."

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Anyone interested in making a pledge to the ride or obtaining information about HIV/AIDS is asked to visit the Friends-Together Web site at http://www.friendstogether.org/, or call (863) 686-7475.