I am very proud to add this section "Herbie's Corner" to our website, Herbert (Herbie) Maier was a young PeerCorps volunteer from the small village of Frojach in south central Austria. Herbie was a friend who died tragically in November 2004 in an automobile accident in Australia. Years ago when he was beginning high school, he first met Dr. John through Markus, his older brother (Markus was also a PeerCorps volunteer for Dr. John and continues his service to TeenAIDS today as a member of the Global Advisory Board.)

Herbie was the youngest of three sons of Herbert and Elisabeth Maier. Until his oldest brother told him about TeenAIDS and Dr. John's global Walk, he knew "nothing" about AIDS being a threat to teenagers. When Herbie heard that Dr. John was coming to Austria to do outreach, he contacted his school ("Borg Murau") to have the American educator come and speak to his class and friends. As a result of his initiative and perseverance, Dr. John spoke to many classes there over different years and will do so in the future. This section highlights the stories and activities of young people who are going to their schools to get Dr. John to speak to their peers.

We encourage young people form the Untied States and around the world to write me about their efforts to have their schools introduce or expand HIV/AIDS prevention education. If you want Dr. John to come and speak at your school, he will consider all requests but can make no promises. Much of Dr. John's travel schedule is determined by financial considerations. He does not charge schools to speak but his travel itinerary is determined by the money that TeenAIDS raises to fund the walks.

Herbie was a very special young man whose life was cut short by a car accident. However, his efforts at his school and among his friends might also have cut down on the number of new HIV infections because of his efforts to get medically accurate information to his classmates. He leaves behind his parents and two brothers, Markus and Helmut. If you would like to send a note to his family, you can do it through TeenAIDS or through Dr. John's email.