BRATTLEBORO — Year after year, Windham County resident Howie Peterson has cheered as the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont has recognized Guilford great-great-grandmother Shirley Squires as its top Walk for Life fundraiser for amassing an eye-popping annual haul of more than $20,000.
Peterson, for his part, then has been named the event's second-place finisher with a commendable but comparatively smaller sum of about $1,000.
“If I could just raise 10 percent of what Shirley does,” Peterson recalls thinking after last year's walk.
History appeared to be repeating itself on May 19 when organizers of the 31st annual event announced that Squires had reaped $23,687, bringing the octogenarian's lifetime total since her first walk in 1993 to $350,000.
But then Peterson learned not only that he had raised $2,336 - 10 percent of Squires' 2018 figure - but also, in a first, that this year's walk was honoring him as its perennial yet persistent runner-up.
Peterson, a former staffer and longtime supporter of the Brattleboro-based nonprofit, had competition. AIDS Project Treasurer Charles Lappen raised $1,951, while former board member David Carr raised $1,913.
Squires, who collects money in memory of her son, the late Rep. Ronald Squires, D-Guilford, wasn't alone in her efforts: Her daughter, Deb, came up with an additional $507.
Collectively, the walk raised $33,700 - just shy of last year's record $34,121 - for the AIDS Project, which provides a host of services to 85 clients living with HIV as well as prevention and education programs to curb the spread of the disease in Windham, Bennington, and southern Windsor counties.
The event at the River Garden drew a large contingent from the local Boys & Girls Club and featured local musicians Sonya Robison and Jamie and Rebecca Denno.
“The fear of dying from AIDS is so far in the past,” master of ceremonies Steve Breakstone said. “But the reason we still keep getting together is because we still need education and community involvement.”