Sneakers and Purses . . . .

Yesterday I made a quick stop at Marshall’s.  They are selling JDRF Sneakers and I wanted to support the fundraiser.  Of course, I needed to bring something up to the register in order to buy my sneaker, right??


This isn’t the best picture.  The main body of the purse is actually a gorgeous forest green, with tan sides and black handles, and it kind of reminds me of a cute little Italian sports car.  I had to have it.  I should’ve gotten a better picture, but I loved that my cat photobombed so I had to use this one.

Anyway, the cashier asked me right away if I wanted to buy a donation sneaker, and I told her “absolutely” and then I told her why.  I thanked her and told her we discussed the Marshall’s sneaker sales at our JDRF board meeting on Thursday and that we appreciate the support they give and fundraising they do every year.  I really am grateful when people with no diabetes connection pitch in to help our causes, and it was wonderful to get to thank her.

And getting a new purse wasn’t too bad either.

Flowers and Chocolates and Insulin . . . .

Valentine’s Day is coming up quick.  I’m definitely a hopeless romantic so I’ve always loved Valentine’s Day, even when I was single.  Pete and I usually celebrate with flowers (for me) and chocolates (for both of us) and a fun dinner out.

I really love flowers - my grandparents were florists and flowers make my day.  But honestly, I don’t really NEED flowers.  And as much as I consider chocolate a basic food group, neither Pete nor I really NEED chocolate.  The best part of our dinner out is just sitting down together and spending time with each other.  But what if that wasn’t possible? 

What if Pete and I couldn’t spend time together because I was no longer here?  What if I died because I couldn’t get the insulin that I, as a Type 1 diabetic, needed to stay alive?  It’s almost impossible for me to imagine.  Over the years I’ve had to fight to get the number of test strips I need, and to get a CGM, and a very long time ago I had to fight to get syringes covered by my insurance.  But I never, ever, in 34+ years with diabetes, had to fight to get insulin.  It’s probably something I just take for granted, those little vials of life in my refrigerator.  And that makes me very lucky.

This year I’m giving back to those who aren’t as lucky.  I have my husband and I have insulin . . . . there isn’t much else I need to feel loved.  So Pete and I are putting our Valentine’s money where it is needed - the Spare A Rose campaign. 


For every $5 Pete and I donate, or for the cost of each rose or a few chocolates, we are providing one months worth of insulin for a child who would otherwise probably die.  I can’t think of a better way to spread the love.  And I urge you to join me and #sparearose or two and save a life right now.

http://SpareARose.org
www.SpareARose.org/give

Walk the Walk, Talk the Talk . . . .

It’s that time of year again when my Facebook feed fills up with people raising money for their JDRF Walks.  My chapter had its walk on Sunday and I love to see so many come together to raise funds and promote diabetes awareness.  It’s a good thing to walk the walk.

As the Advocacy Team Chair for my chapter, I was also there to talk the talk . . . . about advocacy.  And to urge everyone to talk the talk to our legislators.  This is another important way to raise much needed funds for diabetes research.


What was I talking about at the Advocacy table?  Well . . . . .

• Did you know that for every dollar JDRF donates to research, the federal government donates more than $3?
• The more advocates speak up to their representatives about issues like research funding, the more likely we are to succeed when they come up in Congress.
• Congress must renew the Special Diabetes Program to ensure federal funding continues each year (currently $150 million annually).

**  talking points provided by the JDRF Grassroots team.

I want to thank everyone who has walked their JDRF walk this year.  And those who have supported a walk participant.  And now I want to urge you all to talk the Advocacy talk as well!  Sign up as a JDRF Advocate and let our government know how important diabetes research funding is.  Given the economic crisis happening right now, it’s more important than ever to speak up!

5K is not so far . . .

Seriously, 5 kilometer is just over three miles.  Three miles isn’t far, right?  You could run three miles, couldn’t you?  Okay, well, I can’t quite run three miles - I need a few walking breaks in there.  I’m working on it though!!  But you could try to run three miles, right?  Or you could certainly just walk three miles, correct?

Still not quite convinced?  What if you ran / walked / whatever three miles AND RAISED MONEY FOR A DIABETES FUNDRAISER??  You’d certainly do that, right?

That's right!  Reyna from Beta Buddies and her sister are organizing a virtual 5K to raise money for JDRF.  All it takes to participate is a $10 entry fee.  Then just walk or run your 5K anytime between June 24th and June 27th and post your name and time.  (If you are slow like me and would rather keep your time a secret, that is fine.  Although I have no shame, I’ll share how slowly I run!!)  Not only is this a great thing, but Reyna and Tara have lined up a bunch of cool prizes that will be raffled off.

Seriously, you want to do this.  It’s a great thing to be a part of.  And you can do it!!  Check out the important details on Reyna’s 5K for 5K post and Tara’s It is GO TIME!!!! Race to Cure Diabetes 5K here we come... post.  And then, sign up!!  We may not be able to run our 5K in the same place.  But knowing we are all running together, virtually, will be a really cool thing.  Knowing the D-OC is with me will really push me to do my best!!  Do I have you with me?

C-U-R-E

People living with diabetes need a lot of things.  We need support.  We need education - for ourselves and for the “clueless masses” who may try to judge us.  We need medication and insurance.  We need exercise.  We need strength and patience. 

But above all else, the one thing every person with diabetes needs is a CURE.  I have to admit, I’ve never really believed in a cure for diabetes - especially in my life-time.  But the Diabetes Research Institute, and their commitment to finding a real cure for diabetes, is starting to instill some optimism in me.


And that’s why I have made a donation to the DRI’s Be Part of the Cure campaign.  For a donation of $10 or more, you can upload your picture and story into the CURE mosaic, which will be printed as a giant banner upon completion and hung at the Diabetes Research Institute.  You even get to chose which efforts your donation will help fund.  If you donate $50, you will receive a mouse-pad that sports the final CURE mosaic.  I informed Pete that he is getting me one for Christmas - which really means I donated some of the money he would have spent on me for Christmas towards this campaign.  After all, a better chance for a cure and a mouse-pad mosaic of some of my favorite D-OC members are the best Christmas gifts I can think of!

To help build the mosaic and find a cure for diabetes, go to Be Part of the Cure and make your donation today!

My Sugar-Free Walk Socks

Over the past few of weeks, I've enjoyed reading a couple of posts on Six Until Me about people who've found innovative ways to do diabetes fundraising. And it got me thinking about "my" socks. My story isn't as inspiring as those featured on Kerri's blog, but I thought it would be fun to share it with you anyway.

As I've mentioned before, I knit. (Okay, I knit a lot.) And I might have a bit of yarn. Well okay, maybe I have around 98,000 yards (that's over 55 miles) of yarn. No, I'm not kidding. I have it all logged in an excel spreadsheet. (dork) With columns that add up the yards and also convert it to miles. (super dork) And that doesn't even count a few more skeins I picked up on vacation that still need to be logged in. (obsessed dork) But I digress.

Two years ago, Pea and I decided to participate in the ADA Walk-a-thon. One of the first things I did was to put up a post on my knitting blog. I was overwhelmed by the response. Knitters not only began donating immediately, but they also posted about it on their blogs - and soon donations were coming in from people I didn't even know. They also donated yarn and other knitting loot so I could raffle off prizes to people who donated. I had set my fundraising goal at an amount that I thought was unreachable - $500. In just a couple of weeks, we had passed that goal.

But wait, I haven't even gotten to the best part yet. One of my blog friends was just starting to design her own knitting patterns. And she decided to donate her first sock pattern to me. She named it Karen's Sugar-Free Walk Socks, and donated the entire proceeds from every pattern sold until the walk-a-thon to my walk. I proudly walked every step of the walk-a-thon in socks I had knit myself, from a pattern named for me! In the end, she sold 90 copies of the pattern, and donated $450 to my walk. That brought me well over the top of my new unreachable goal of $1,000.

Hang on, it still gets even better!! To this day, Chrissy continues to donate $2 to the ADA each time that pattern is sold. It's so amazing to me that someone would be so generous with their talent. I am extremely proud to be able to think of that pattern as "my pattern" - and I get such a thrill every time I come across a pair of "my socks" on a knitting blog. I truly hope the pattern continues to be a hit, until the day when a cure for all of us is found.

And yes, Pea and I are walking again this year, in October. I don't think I'll have a cool fundraising story to go with this walk . . . . but hey, you never know!