Day Of Compassion was an annual television special

Television special

A television special is a television program which interrupts or temporarily replaces programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Sometimes, however, the term is given to a telecast of a theatrical film, such as The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments, which is not part of a regular...

 (1993-1998) which honored those who have AIDS or who are HIV

HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

-positive. Neil Tadken, creator, was so moved by the HIV/AIDS-awareness storyline involving the character Billy Douglas (Ryan Phillippe) on "One Life To Live", that Tadken contacted the producers of all ten daytime dramas, suggesting that on June 21, their shows mention AIDS and HIV in some way. All My Children

All My Children

All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...

, One Life To Live

One Life to Live

One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...

, General Hospital

General Hospital

General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....

 and Days of Our Lives

Days of our Lives

Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...

 participated in the first year. Hollywood Support's became the supporting organization, headed by Barry Diller

Barry Diller

Barry Charles Diller is the Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp and the media executive responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting.-Early life:...

 and other major studio heads in the Hollywood. Neil Taken then met with producer Lawrence Leritz

Lawrence Leritz

Lawrence Leritz is an American dancer, singer, actor, producer, fitness expert and choreographer.-Life and career:...

, who agreed to become the East Coast producer and spokesman. Leritz continued for three seasons; "Day Of Compassion" became the largest one day event in television history with over 200 shows on the air; soaps, talk show

Talk show

A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....

s, cable and news. Time Magazine

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

named Lawrence as their Local Hero in June 1996 for his contribution.