Do you think about getting involved in your community but have concerns that it may take too much time?

Do you have a few hours in the next couple of months to volunteer and give back?

Do you have type 1 diabetes or does your child, grand child, spouse, partner, parent, sibling, friend, neighbor or even your co-worker live with type 1 diabetes?

Do you live in the East Bay in Oakland, Berkeley, Albany, Castro Valley, Alameda, San Leandro, Hayward, Fremont, Newark, Union City, El Cerrito, Concord, Walnut Creek, Fairfield, Livermore, Antioch, Richmond, Pittsburg, Vallejo, Vacaville and Martinez?  What about in the northern counties of Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa or Sonoma? Do you live in South San Francisco, Pacifica, San Mateo, Los Gatos, Milpitas, Cupertino, Santa Clara, Campbell and San Jose or in the counties of San Benito, Monterey and Santa Cruz?

Can you imagine what you’d say to a legislator if given the opportunity?  Or do you already rant and rave, roll your eye, smile or feel pleased at your federal legislators actions while watching the evening news or reading the paper?

If you answered yes to these questions, you are URGENTLY needed as volunteer JDRF advocate.

As a JDRF Advocate you may infrequently be asked to send an email or maybe to write a letter (remember that?) to a federal legislator in support of diabetes research funding.  Occasionally one may be asked to encourage others to volunteer in advocacy.  If you are fortunate you may be asked to make a personal visit to a legislator in his/her district office. To have the opportunity to visit a federal legislator in his/her Washington office is an experience not soon forgotten.  There is something about the Hill, the Capital and our government in action that is impressive regardless of political affiliation.

Every other year JDRF makes a coordinated effort to schedule and complete meetings between our representatives and senators and their constituents in their local districts. JDRF calls constituents JDRF Advocates and JDRF calls this coordinated effort the Promise Campaign.  JDRF Advocates tell their story about diabetes and ask the legislator to “promise to remember you” when making decisions about diabetes. The objective in the Promise Campaign is to meet with each Congressional leader within our chapter territory.  The momentum continues the following year with Children’s Congress building on messaging established in legislative visits the preceding year. Two campaigns that work together to influence lawmakers to vote yes when next issues important to diabetes arise.

We ask advocates to arrange meetings with legislators.  This can be done from your home or office during normal business hours.  Do you have time to arrange a meeting?

Then we assemble a small group of advocates including advocate families for the actual meeting. We can also provide one-on-one training sessions, if needed, that will fit around your schedule. In preparation, advocates are asked to review key message points. The meetings take less than an hour but lawmakers

JDRF Advocates meeting with Representative George Miller

hear first hand about living with type 1 diabetes. Finally, you are asked to take a photo or send a note to the legislator and thank him/her for the meeting.  How much time does it take to prepare, attend and follow up from a meeting?  Maybe two or three hours?

JDRF notes the impact of these meetings; when legislators are making public statements in Washington on issues of interest to people with type 1 diabetes, they often mention meetings advocates during the Promise Campaign.  There is a lot that impresses me about JDRF but JDRF Government Relations impresses me more than everything else. They use progressive approaches in communicating with advocates and they make it easy for people to volunteer small amounts of time.  Additionally, they work really hard to ensure the special congressional funding of diabetes research that exceeds even the $100,000,000 funding of diabetes research funding JDRF funds through your generosity.

I am a JDRF Advocate but only Nancy Pelosi is interested in hearing from me.  I live in San Francisco and legislators representing other areas want to hear from people they represent or within their voting district.  Think you are ready to sign up to be a JDRF Advocate?

JDRF Bay Area is about half way through the 2009-2010 Promise Campaign and advocates have already completed many legislator visits.  We need people willing to volunteer as advocates to help organize meetings with representatives that live in the districts listed below.  Nine meeting is all we need to complete by May.  Once completed you decide if you have had enough or if you wish to continue as a JDRF advocate.  My guess is that most people who try it will want to continue.

• District 1 – Rep Michael Thompson (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino counties and parts of Napa and Sonoma counties)
• District 7 – Rep. George Miller (Richmond, Pittsburg, Vallejo, Vacaville, Martinez)
• District 9 – Rep. Barbara Lee (Oakland, Berkeley, Albany, Castro Valley)
• District 10 – Rep. Garamendi (El Cerrito, Concord, Walnut Creek, Fairfield, Livermore, Antioch)
• District 12 – Rep. Jackie Speier (San Mateo, South SF, Pacifica)
• District 13 – Rep. Fortney Stark (Alameda, San Leandro, Hayward, Fremont, Newark, Union Cty)
• District 15 – Rep. Mike Honda (Los Gatos, Milpitas, Cupertino, Santa Clara, Campbell)
• District 16 – Rep. Zoe Lofgren (San Jose)
• District 17 – Rep. Sam Farr (all of San Benito and Monterey County, part of Santa Cruz County)

Nine meetings is all we need to complete in the next five months.  It sounds easy but we need volunteers willing to help for a few hours.  Once completed you decide if you have had enough of volunteering or instead you wish to continue as a JDRF Advocate.  If you can help or need more information, please contact Carolyn Eisen (415) 597-6317 or me by commenting on this blog.

On behalf of the 75,000 people living with type 1 diabetes in the Bay Area, thank you.

See photos from JDRF Advocates around the country meeting with their representatives.

I have been a member of the JDRF staff for only 16 months.  But as the story goes, JDRF was started by a group of parents whose children had type 1 diabetes.  The parents were determined to find cures for their children.  And so it began that other families were the focus of the work of JDRF.  As the organizations begins its 40th year and at the same time exceeding $100 million contributions annually in diabetes research funding, it is about time that the organization realizes that there is a much larger diabetes world than families with children with diabetes.  After all, what happens when the children become young adults?  What about the other 50% of those 30,000 people annually diagnosed with type 1 diabetes?

Outreach is now a respected part of JDRF.  I believe that the good work of Andrea Hulke in National JDRF deserves a lot of credit.  As we conclude our 39th year, Andrea has developed a plan for JDRF to meet the needs of people living with type 1 diabetes through the various stages of life.  I think it is a wonderful plan. In JDRF Bay Area we have about 100 adults in our database.  We have programs for adults, committees for adults and adult oriented events.  Very soon we will have an awesome Adult Tool Kit.  So here is our dilemma.  Why would an adult recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes contact an organization — for information or support — called the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation? Clearly this is an organization, based on its name, dedicated to the very youngest of all people living with diabetes. Or so it would seem from the JDRF name.  The truth is, it is a revamped old name that has equity.  JDRF means a lot.  When we read JDRF each of us have an unique understanding of what that name represents.

Did you know, that in the ’70s and ’80s there were two types of diabetes mellitus – juvenile onset and adult onset.  According to Aetna, type 2 diabetes is also called type 2 diabetes mellitus, adult-onset diabetes, non-insulin-dependent diabetes, or just diabetes. Today the same diseases are called type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes.  What did they call the 50% of people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as an adult in the ’80s?  Juvenile onset a bit late?  In 2010, who would know that several decades ago when a nonprofit was forming the disease had a different name?  Actually who would care?  Why would an adult in 2010 searching the web for information about diabetes and click on the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation if that name came up in the search?  I would click right past it.  So this is the dilemma.

I have oversight of JDRF Bay Area Outreach, on the other side of the country from National JDRF.  I am not sure a name change is likely.  I once worked for a nonprofit when it changed its name to better reflect the diseases it represented.  I never really liked saying the new name.  It sort of always stumbled out of my mouth when I had to say it.  Much of the former organization was lost when its name was abandoned.

JDRF Bay Area would like to connect with adults because JDRF has important information to share and support and because we are adults too.  Sometimes just connecting with others who also live your struggles, helps.  So what suggests do you have for how best to connect with adults and their family’s either living with type 1 diabetes or recently diagnosed and haven’t been living long with type 1 diabetes?

Priscilla Call Essert leads Outreach as the VP, Outreach on the Chapter Executive Board.  Carolyn Eisen is JDRF Bay Area’s Outreach Manager.  Nancy Cook also works with us at JDRF and she has been living with type 1 diabetes for 52 years.  And I am Greg Martin JDRF Bay Area Branch Director.   We are eager to hear your suggestions and ideas.  We thank you.

Are you on Facebook? Join the T1 Adult Group

Last night a small but industrious group of JDRF volunteers and JDRF staff gathered for holiday cheer and to trim a 16 foot tree at Davies Symphony Hall.   JDRF has been provided with the tree as part of the Symphony’s Community Deck the Hall program.  Davies Symphony Hall will be transformed into an evergreen wonderland with towering trees, uniquely decorated by local schools, community groups and charities.  This is JDRF’s second year in the Deck the Hall program.

JDRF tree in progress

Vickie Mallon and Carolyn Eisen coordinated the decorations for the JDRF tree.  Our tree would be decorated in silver and blue coordinating nicely with JDRF colors.  Everyone in the office pitched in this week to make the decorations so we were ready to decorate as everyone arrived last night.

Our tree trimming volunteers included:  Priscilla & Byron Essert; Larry & Margaret Lum; Bill & Heather Marks; Connie, Nick & Mei Mei McComb & their dog, Colton; Mara Bonelli and Rachel Rosenfeld.  Tree trimming staff included Carolyn Eisen, Caroline Kinsey and me.  Not a big group but we got the job done in about 90 minutes.  We listened to holiday music, laughed a lot, and enjoyed wonderful food, sodas and wine all provided compliments of Roche — which was very much appreciated.  Thanks, Jennifer McFarland!

The thing about a 16 foot tree is that all 16 feet must be decorated or it just looks silly.  This requires a 16 foot ladder which was provided by the symphony.  It also requires that someone climb the ladder to hang the decorations.

Byron Essert was first up the ladder.

Byron was the first to take a turn on the a ladder.  Without anyone else willing to climb the big ladder, Priscilla ventured up the ladder and settled in at her personal comfort level.  Priscilla managed to get most of the tree decorated.  Nice work Priscilla!

Then it was my turn.  I argued that I had my turn last year.  It does no good.  I start to climb and then I climb higher and slowly I find myself closer to the top than I care to remember.  Sixteen feet is really high when on a ladder.  And a wobbly ladder at that.

Holding the Ladder

I think we hung our crowning star on a branch at about 15 feet. No way am I going any higher on a ladder.  No Way I can make it to the top of 16 foot tree!

At the end of the evening, we admire our tree and we think the tree looks beautiful complete with a foil tree skirt.  We hung blue ribbons, silver and blue ornaments of large and small sizes and blue wreaths.  For splash of color, we included a few JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes Sneakers. Best of all, the tree features 50 silver stars with 50 unique photographs of local children affixed to the star’s center and the date the child was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

Colton

The San Francisco Symphony’s annual Deck the Hall event, on December 6th, celebrates the holiday season with a magical stage show designed for children and it is the first time the public will see the decorated trees.

The concert includes performances by the Orchestra, dancers from San Francisco Ballet School, the San Francisco Boys Chorus, Chhandam Youth Dance Co., and Stephen Saxon and the New Klezmorim.  The post-show party in the lobbies includes entertainment, arts and craft activities and refreshments.

Margaret decorating

These concerts are presented in conjunction with San Francisco Arts Commission.  It is estimated that 40,000 concert-goers will view the trees during the month of December.

This means that 40,000 people may see the JDRF tree which helps to raise awareness of type 1 diabetes and to keep diabetes firmly in the public spotlight.

Decorators until the end

And we had a great time. So if you have a chance to stop by Davies Symphony Hall (201 Van Ness Avenue) check out the JDRF tree on the 1st Tier.  Let us know what you think by responding to this message.  Don’t forget to check for the the star 15 feet up, front and center.

So now we have the holiday spirit and we raised awareness of type 1 diabetes.  What about you?  What are your plans for the holidays this year? If you have been able to raise diabetes awareness, we would love to hear about it.

Just in case you don’t get a chance to see the JDRF tree, you can view it now.  Happy Holidays.

The JDRF Tree at Symphony Hall

Thanks to the generous sponsorship by Johnson & Johnson and JDRF, San Francisco’s Ferry Building will go blue this World Diabetes Day!

We invite you to join together with other people with diabetes at this very special event as we celebrate together World Diabetes Day.

When:
Nov. 14, starting at 5 pm until about 7 pm-ish

What:

• Come with your entire family
• Dress up in blue
• Paint your face blue
• Bring a flashlight and blue cellophane
• Bring blue signs

Where (Map):
One Ferry Building
San Francisco, California 94111
Park between Ferry Building and Embarcadero

Organized By:   diaTribe®, JDRF, and TuDiabetes

diaTribe® is an independent, advertising-free, e-newsletter for everyone eager to learn about the latest advances in diabetes management focusing on research and product news. It features reviews of the latest drugs and devices, interviews with leading figures in the diabetes world, and other information and insights not available anywhere else. Sign up for your complimentary subscription at www.diatribe.us. diaTribe has organized World Diabetes Day in the Bay Area since it began in 2007. diaTribe founder Kelly Close has had diabetes for over 20 years; she and co-founder Alisa Bekins have been on the JDRF San Francisco branch board for several years.

Diabetes Hands Foundation (DHF) is a Bay Area-based 501(c)3 nonprofit that runs TuDiabetes (in English) and EsTuDiabetes (in Spanish), two online communities for people touched by diabetes. Through its communities, DHF has also developed numerous diabetes awareness programs, such as Word In Your Hand, Drawing Diabetes and, for this World Diabetes Day (Nov. 14), The Big Blue Test.