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Mary Lou Moreno

National AIDS Fund Trustee Mary Lou Moreno of El Paso, Texas, has a deeply personal reason for her more than 21 years in HIV/AIDS work -- her youngest son.

“The day that my son called to say he had tested positive for HIV is the day I became an AIDS advocate,” she said. “I decided I had to learn everything I possibly could about HIV/AIDS and help as many people as possible along the way.” Moreno’s first experience with HIV was serving as a buddy to a person living with the disease, becoming his chauffeur, his friend and his family member until her buddy's passing.

“I was then asked to help establish the Border AIDS Partnership, which I did, and the rest is history,” she said.

As the key staff person of Border AIDS Partnership, a NAF Community Partnership, Moreno is grateful that being affiliated with NAF means more support for the community-based organizations in the Border region between El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico. She is also the Community Partnership representative on the National AIDS Fund Board of Trustees.

“Some of these programs would not exist without the support of the National AIDS Fund,” Moreno said. “NAF has proved more of an extended family to the community partnerships than just an HIV-related non-profit organization.”