(WHAS11) - The economy is partially to blame for the decrease in funding, but there has also been a steady decrease in the number of people participating in the aids walk and donating to the cause.
Now, it's become so drastic that the organization says, for the first time, it's going to affect their ability to provide services.
Hundreds of people pounded the pavement today in 17th Annual Louisville AIDS Walk.
"I think the whole community is affected.? It's affected a lot of different people," said Sharon Hassell.
Steve Benner said, "We decided to come help and show our support for the reserach on AIDS and to help prevent the spread of this disease."
Every year, the event rakes in hundreds of thousands of dollars for the organization which helps people living with HIV/AIDS in Jefferson County.
But this year, the AIDS walk took a hit, one that will likely affect everyone living with HIV and AIDS in Jefferson County.
The organization came up $16000 short compared to last year.
"If you compare 2000 to 2009, there's been a 42% decrease in the amount of funds that we've raised by from 2000 to 2009 there's been a 71% increase in the number of people living with AIDS in Jefferson County. So we are struggling to try to serve more people with fewer funds," said Brad Hampton, Director Louisville AIDS Walk.
This year, that is going to mean cuts, something that is not happening to other organizations like the Diabetes Foundation and the Alzheimer's foundation, who also held walks this weekend.
Those organizations say they exceeded their goals.
So why didn't the AIDS Walk?
Hampton said, "I think that people have become complacent about HIV/AIDS it's not in the headlines the way it used to be.? It doesn't grab the attention.? It's been around for a while.? We're 26 years into the epidemic so people are not as concerned about it."
"Unfortunately it means that unless we were able to make up the money in some other capacity we would have to cut services."
This walk is Kentucky's largest AIDS awareness event.
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