Money will be raised to assist people in Southern Illinois who are infected with the AIDS virus through a benefit program put together by SIUC students and alumni combined with a local organization.

The Southern Illinois Regional Effort for AIDS (SIREA) and the Speech Communications Department will host the fourth annual SIREA performance benefit July 12 and 13 at 8 p.m. in the Kleinau Theater on the second floor of the SIUC Communications Building.

C. Turner Steckline, an SIUC professor in speech communication and chairwoman of the event, said the first show will feature various types of performances.

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SIUC alumni come back from Michigan, Georgia, Missouri, and New York for the benefit, and join students to perform short stories, poetry, performance art, dance, music and singing, Steckline said.

The second performance, July 13 at 8 p.m. features alumnus Craig Gingrich-Philbrook in a one person play titled GAP (Negotiated Safety Enigma,1994).

Steckline said to shorten the performance this year the benefit is being held on two consecutive nights.

It is a lot to ask for an audience to sit two and a half hours (the total length of the performances), Steckline said. If this arrangement works we will try it again next year.

David Newfarmer, vice-president of SIREA, said the organization was started four years ago by four men affected with the disease to provide temporary emergency financial assistance to persons living with AIDS.

The program is registered with the Illinois Attorney General’s office and the state secretary as a non-profit organization.

Newfarmer said the Darrell Kirk Emergency Fund Performance Benefit is really wonderful and provides clients of SIREA with the assistance they need.

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We want to come in and help our clients, Newfarmer said. It could be a lengthy process to sign up for disability or social security and people may not be able to go back to work.

In addition to the benefit concert, Newfarmer said SIREA has other events to raise money.

We are funded by cooperative and private donations, and fund-raisers, he said. Also we have a FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) grant from Jackson County. We plan to apply for the same grant in other counties.

The organization has approximately 45 volunteers who work as buddies, case managers, drivers, clerical workers, grant writers, and the director’s board, Newfarmer said.

The benefit is free, donations can be made at the door or mailed to SIREA, P.O. Box 1403, Carbondale, IL 62903-1403.