Without a vaccine or cure, AIDS continues to take lives. Trail to a Cure, a Columbia volunteer organization, wants to change that by remembering and honoring those who have lost their lives and working to find a cure.

At Saturday's second annual Bike/Walk/Run event for HIV/AIDS on the Katy Trail in Rocheport, participants had different reasons for getting involved.

Some ran for lost friends.

"In memory of a really good friend of ours - my husband and I lost a friend to AIDS," volunteer Kathryn Sapp said.

"When I was in college, I had a friend who died from AIDS," Angie Rush said. Rush was the event's biggest fundraiser.

Others walked for their children's future.

"I've got kids that are growing up in an age where HIV and AIDS still put them at risk along with a lot of other people we know," said Liz Rattke of Trail to a Cure.

More than 100 volunteers walked, ran, or biked the trail in memory and support. They raised more than $7,000.

"I think our generation forgets that this is still something that affects us today because we don't see it everyday," sexual health advocate Jessica Omoille said.

The money rasied will go toward finding a cure and helping Missourians living with the disease. Volunteers said it's important to educate others about HIV/AIDS in Missouri.

"It's one of those things that doesn't discriminate," Omoille said. "It doesn't matter where you live, where you're from, what age you are."

While many won't see the day it happens, their friends still fight to find the cure.