LOOKING FOR A TEAM? WE'RE LOOKING FOR YOU!

(And if you join us Captain Joe will help you reach your fundraising goal!)

After a couple of years of masking and distancing let me start by saying that you can't "catch" any type of diabetes- it isn't contagious. It just happens to a few thousand people each day.

In 2015 there were 24.1 million US citizens living with diabetes. Today that number has reached 38.4 million and increases by 3,836 each day. I find that frightening for a disease that is not contagious.

Our team is supporting the American Diabetes Association because we want to stop diabetes.

Our team captain Joe's brother Greg was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) in his mid-twenties, while Joe has been living with T1D for 63 of his 65 years. And despite having a lifestyle made of both hypervigilance and multi-level exercise including distance walking, distance bicycling, and being an avid weight lifter, he's lost 90% of his eyesight, has peripheral and central nerve failure, and had to undergo an amputation in 2018, all because of his diabetes. Not one to let complications stop him, he's riding in Tour de Cure again this year!

If you can ride, run, or walk, join us in person for Tour de Cure! Or you can participate in spirit any time and anywhere by doing almost anything to help our team reach it's fundraising goal! Some of the most fun methods incude:

• Hold a rummage sale to stop diabetes! Ask friends to donate stuff if you don't have enough items. Most buyers won't haggle and will usually over-pay for items!
• Have a car wash to stop diabetes! Folks will over-donate here too!
• Hold a silent auction, raffle, or a 50/50 raffle to stop diabetes! The winner of a 50/50 raffle will usually donate their prize to help the cause!
• Throw a "Stop Diabetes Party" with free beer and pay toilets! (OK, the cost might exceed the donations.) But you get my gist! Anything that gets people to donate some of their hard-earned money for this seriously necessary cause is a good idea!

Whether in-person or holding your own event, you will be helping the ADA provide community-based education programs, protect the rights of adults and children with diabetes, and fund critical research for a cure. And if you donate through our team page or any of our team member's pages, you'll be helping us reach and exceed our goals!

Please consider helping our team by joining us to participate in person, participate virtually, or by helping one of our members with a donation. Or go for the gusto- donate AND participate!