The November 7, 2010 Walk to Cure Diabetes comes a week before the World Diabetes Day (proclaimed by the UN at the request of Rotary International, JDRF, and others) on November 14. Rotary International also started a special action group on the subject. For its part, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) is not only highly respected, but also the world’s largest charitable funder and advocate of type 1 (juvenile) diabetes research. Such research can also be useful in treating type 2 (adult) diabetes.
Just as World Polio Day is October 24, so World Diabetes Day is November 14 (thanks, inter alia, to Rotary International). It is time to see the parallels between the two crusades. Like Infantile Paralysis, Juvenile Diabetes victimizes the very young. The former is crippling; the latter can be fatal. The former has a vaccine; the latter is still seeking a cure – as well as a means to get insulin to children in third world countries.
As observed by Syed Azmatullah, a Phoenix Rotarian: “It is shocking to learn from Martin Silink, president of IDF [and Secretary of Rotary’s Action Group] that half of the 440,000 children with diabetes worldwide lack access to the insulin they need to live. It is necessary that every Rotary District observes World Diabetes Day to spread awareness of and help detect and treat the silent killer.”
Rotarians are active in projects in Nepal and Sri Lanka, Bolivia, Nigeria, and Cameroon, and support at least 5 foot care projects in the Caribbean through the matching grant process, with the potential for forty more countries by 2012.
This year there will be a “TEAM ROTARY” headed by Michael Ojeda of Arcadia Rotary. We are building on last year’s Walk in which an estimated 15,000 people (including Rotarians) took part. Other Rotarians made donations to the JDRF. This year in the memo space of your checks payable to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, please write “TEAM ROTARY”.
You are invited to join us on November 7 for a healthy 5K walk around Dodger Stadium and the infield as we help to raise money.
Joining our winning team is easy! First, sign up with “TEAM ROTARY” captain Michael Ojeda or register online at www.jdrf.org. Second, simply ask your family, friends and neighbors to sponsor you by making a contribution to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, or to walk with you on “TEAM ROTARY”. You can even fundraise online at JDRF’s Walk Central to raise even more money. Third, join us as we Walk to Cure Diabetes!