As the holidays approach and campus is decorated with myriad of colors, New Student Programs is focusing on one particular color: red to raise HIV/AIDS awareness.

The fifth annual Red Week started Monday and runs through Saturday.

New Student Programs sponsors a variety of different activities for Red Week, including the annual Red Show, sale of red ribbons and creation of an HIV/AIDS quilt.

The quilt program, which goes all week from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Bridge Lounge in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union, allows students to make a quilt square out of felt or fabric in tribute to someone who has been affected by HIV/AIDS or to raise awareness.

At the end of the week, the squares will be mounted on a larger cloth that will be displayed at the Red Show, a variety show on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom.

Cordy Love, the assistant director of New Student Programs, said the EIU Quilt Squares program is based on the AIDS Memorial Quilt, which was created by The NAMES Project Foundation in 1987.

“In the second year of Red Week, we thought about hosting the quilt,” Love said. “We realized it was too expensive and decided to make our own.”

Along with the quilt squares and weeklong sale of red ribbons in Lawson Hall, Love said the organizers have also added two new programs this year: free HIV/AIDS testing and Wear Red Day.

The HIV/AIDS testing will be free to the first 50 participants from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday in the Casey, Paris and Shelbyville rooms of the Union.

There will also be counseling provided for students as they get the results. Love said he hopes students take advantage of the opportunity.

“It’s better to know than not know,” Love said. “You are not only protecting yourself, but others around you as well.”

Also new this year is Wear Red Day on Friday, when the campus community is encouraged to wear red and pose for a picture at 2 p.m. on the Doudna Fine Arts Center steps.

“We’re going to arrange people into the shape of a red ribbon and take a picture.”

Love said the Red Week series of programming started five years ago after a discussion about that year’s EIU Reads Book, “Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World.”

The book tells the story of a doctor who works with multiple diseases around the world including HIV/AIDS.

“We wanted to raise awareness in a fun way,” Love said. “It is not the most fun topic, so we wanted to educate as well.”

Amy Wywialowski can be reached at 581-2812 or alwywialowski@eiu.edu.