For each person with AIDS that Barbara Ericson came to know so well, she has a special memory.

"Jerry was an organist and he was very independent. Bob was just a sweetheart. And Mac didn’t live for very long. I would love to have him back."

As an emotional support volunteer for six years, Ericson opened her Brookfield home and her heart to people with AIDS giving them the support they needed most - cooking special meals, sharing holidays, offering a shoulder to cry on and a hand to hold during difficult times.

"I never knew what they were going to face, but I was going to face it with them."

Ericson was inspired by the friendships she made among people with AIDS which motivated her to do even more.

She trained other emotional support volunteers, served on the boards of the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin AIDS Fund and directed her philanthropy to strengthen the fight against AIDS.

Ericson believes she has gained more than she has given in her noble volunteer work on AIDS.

"It is a labor of love. The impact of AIDS on my life has been profound. I have gained a new value for life."