By Erika Anderson

ATLANTA—“It’s not my profession, it’s my mission. It’s my passion.”

Those are the words Loreen Maiorino-Krug uses to describe her involvement in AIDS education. Since 1994, Loreen, who is Catholic and a member of the currently inactive Archdiocesan AIDS Task Force, has been addressing audiences, usually made up of teenagers, about the very real danger of HIV.

Her mission began, however, as a simple friendship.

Loreen and her husband, Ted, started volunteering in 1990 for Hands On Atlanta, serving twice a week at an area transitional shelter. They became acquainted with Michael, the man who managed the shelter in the evenings. One night, Michael didn’t come to the shelter. He wasn’t there the next night or the next. All the Krugs had heard was that he was sick.

“When he returned six or eight weeks later, he had lost about 30 pounds,” Loreen said. “He was very sallow looking—his skin was not in the best shape. And you could just see a sadness in his eyes.”

It was soon after that their lives would be changed forever. One evening, Michael asked them if they would take him home because he was too tired to take MARTA.

During that ride home, he told them that he had AIDS. He had been abandoned by many of his friends and family members and was surprised when the Krugs didn’t make him leave the car immediately after finding out about his illness.

“We spent two hours talking to him and that’s when we became a family of choice,” Loreen said. The parents of one son, the Krugs invited Michael into their lives. “We took care of him for about 18 months before he died.”

Michael died in 1995 at the age of 43. At that point, Loreen’s mission had already begun. Together with her AIDS-stricken friend, she would speak to young people about the virus and ways to prevent infection. An IV drug user earlier in his life, Michael had contracted the virus at the age of 27.

“He would say to me, ‘If I got this at age 27, you have to know teenagers are out there doing things too. They are going to get this virus. We have to do something,’” she said.

And Loreen, a former teacher and administrator, has done something. She has dedicated her life to educating others.

Through AID Atlanta and the Rotary Club, Loreen shares the story of Michael as well as the other friends she has met along her journey. Ninety-five percent of her talks are given to teenagers at local parishes and schools. She educates them on the importance of abstinence and the very real danger that HIV presents in their young lives.

“Statistically, 13- to 24-year-olds are the fastest growing group by age getting infected with HIV and it’s through heterosexual conduct,” she said. “By gender, it is young women who are being infected the most.”

Some of the growing statistics can be traced back to the home life of many young people, she believes.

“I see in so many of our children that they don’t have what they need at home. They don’t have the love that they’re looking for because mom and dad are so busy. They send monetary love, but that’s not what they need. They need unconditional love,” she said.

Because of this lack of love, many teens turn to sex to make up for the emotional void felt from their parents.

“They are confusing (the feelings from) sex with that hug or kiss on the cheek from their parents, or even just having the parent with them,” she said. “I don’t want parents to have to go through what Michael’s mother went through after his death.”

Loreen said she is usually very well received by the teenagers. Her presentation is based on abstinence.

“I tell them that you have to love yourself enough that you don’t have to do anything to make someone love you,” she said.

The new grandmother said she approaches the teens in a matter-of-fact manner.

“I tell them first of all that ‘I will not lie to you. I am not up here to hear myself speak. I’m up here for you,’” she said.

To her talks, she brings along friends who are suffering from the effects of HIV, at various stages of the illness.

“It puts a face on the virus,” she said.

Though HIV/AIDS treatments have come a long way, there is still no medical cure. Loreen believes that that can change if people are willing to change their actions.

“I tell (the teens) that there is no medical cure, no medical vaccine, but there is a cure,” she said. “I tell them, ‘You’re the cure.’”

“‘If you do not engage in those behaviors that put you in the face of HIV, we could annihilate this virus. You’ve got the power.’”

The goal of her talks is to encourage the teens to remain abstinent or to “rethink their behaviors if they have already chosen to engage in sexual activities.”

“I want them to relish life, to know that they are important, that they are worth it,” she said.

The American Red Cross-certified community instructor also wants the young people to learn to support those living with HIV/AIDS, accepting and assisting them, rather than rejecting them.

“If I can change attitudes, I’ve had a good day,” she said.

Loreen said she would “love to do family nights,” where parents and teenagers together could be open to dialogue about HIV.

“The best thing to do is to educate yourself and then become a messenger,” she said. “If parents would just be open to talking to their children about sex without panicking, without becoming hysterical with their kids, we could change things. By talking to children about sex, it doesn’t mean that they condone it. It all has to do with dialogue. Things can change.”

Loreen is intent on working toward that change and in memory of those who have lost their lives to AIDS.

“I do this for Michael and for the other friends I have lost since he died,” she said. “That is why I do this.”

Loreen Maiorino-Krug is available to speak to teens as well as adults. She may be contacted at (770) 458-9814.