EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — World AIDS Day was founded in 1988 and takes place on Dec. 1 each year, allowing people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV.

This year is no different in Los Angeles. The Wall Las Memorias Project, a community health and wellness organization, has been honoring the day locally for 28 years with its annual evening of reflection known as Noche de Las Memorias. This translates from Spanish to "a journey of resilience and compassion."

TWLMP's World AIDS Day event has been held in a different fashion the past two years due to COVID-19. But this year is a return to pre-pandemic fashion.

Richard L. Zaldivar, founder and executive director of the nonprofit, says he encourages locals to attend Thursday evening's in-person memorial event at their AIDS monument in East LA's Lincoln Park.

"The monument stands as a marker of the toll of lives that were taken away from our community because of AIDS. But it's also a focal point to say that it's not over," said Zaldivar. "We're still living in this bubble of COVID and the unknown. And so, we're thinking that this year, our focus really is trying to heal our community, healing from the hatred, the situation that just took place in Colorado Springs. It doesn't have to be just about HIV/AIDS."

The nonprofit is adding about 60 names this coming World AIDS Day to the monument. Those 60 names are victims who have loved ones, and their impact on the community will be remembered on Thursday, as Zaldivar explained.

"The AIDS monument also represents a community who went outside of the norm of the Latino community to build a monument, something that was unheard of. Now all of a sudden, you're hearing memorials brought up all over the nation," said Zaldivar. "It's important that we revisit, that we get a chance to appreciate the hard work. That in itself gives us energy to come together to end HIV."

To learn more about Thursday's event, please visit here.