Sharing personal stories of leading lives while infected with AIDS/HIV, three young adults addressed about 60 Boston University students at the George Sherman Union Conference Auditorium Wednesday night.

The speakers spend their summers at Camp Heartland, an 80-acre site in Willow River, Minnesota set aside for children infected with or affected by AIDS. There, they can spend their summers, at no cost, among other people with similar circumstances. Every year, older children from the camp travel around the country to give talks at colleges and universities in order to spread awareness and promote AIDS education.

Sponsored by the BU Chapter for Camp Heartland, “Journey of Hope” featured a night of AIDS awareness that benefited the summer camp.

“We knew that the camp did talks like this,” BU for Camp Heartland vice president and public relations chair Leslie Reis said. “Since we’re one of the largest college Camp Heartland organizations, and we knew we had the stamina and motivation, we thought it would be a good thing to help raise awareness at Boston University.”

Last year, the organization raised about $2,000 by selling baked goods on campus, and used the money to fly in the Camp Heartland team to BU.

Mark, Bonnie and Ashley, three older members of Camp Heartland, shared their experiences with the illness and the positive effects the camp has had on them. The three stories were all very different.

Mark, a 22-year-old from western Massachusetts, contracted HIV as well as Hepatitis C from hemophilia medication made from blood. Bonnie, a 17-year-old from Vermont, said her parents both had AIDS, and her father passed away when she was four. Ashley, a 17 year-old Detroit native, was born with HIV and had her father, mother and stepfather pass away from the illness.

Attendees said the stories put a face on an illness that often seems foreign and strange.

Despite the seemingly daunting prospect of living with AIDS, the speakers said the message of the night was one of hope.

“Hope is the cure we have for AIDS right now,” Camp Heartland Assistant Director Jessica Brumm said.

The main themes of education and prevention were echoed by all the speakers.

“AIDS is a totally preventable disease, if you love yourself enough to be safe and protect yourself,” Mark said.

Ashley, along with other speakers, said AIDS patients deserve dignity, respect and to be treated like every other person. In addition, they said, Camp Heartland helps them feel like the everyday people they are.

“I know that someone is taking away a message,” Ashley said. “It’s not about how many people are there, it’s about that one person that you touch.”