She said people with HIV/AIDS deserve to be embraced and loved.

There ought to be something inside of you that makes you want to do something, too,” Davenport told the more than 20 people attending the banquet.

She said she does not like the stigma the disease has in the black community, especially in churches.

She said people with HIV/AIDS deserve to be embraced and loved. She said people with HIV/AIDS deserve to be embraced and loved.

Davenport also said many people in the church community need to realize it is only because of God’s grace and mercy they were never infected with the disease.

“Many of us have done the same things that many of the victims of this disease did to get it,” Davenport said.

Davenport said FAITH Inc. received a three-year grant in 2009 from the Florida Department of Health to go to churches around Florida to educate them on how they can help in the fight against the disease.

She said it took 1½ years to get the pastors of most churches to lend her an attentive ear.

The banquet included a moment of silence for those who have died from the disease, during which a girl placed balloons in the middle of the room as people said the names of people they knew who have died from the disease.

Gainesville resident Lynetta Brown then told a story about how as a little girl she witnessed people treat a man with AIDS like he was less than human.

She said people in the community would tell children to go inside when they saw the man coming, and they bleached anything he touched.

She said she learned that how people treated the man was wrong and she vowed not treat anyone like that in her life.

Minister Sebrenah Phillips sang “Praise on the Inside,” and she said her praise is because of the developments in treating the disease.