Koka Booth Amphitheater will host a fundraiser for JDRF (Juvenile Diabetic Research Foundation) on Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023. JDRF holds around 130 walks around the country each year. The walk is a fundraiser for Type 1 diabetes and has a goal of $711,000. To walk, you give a small donation. If you can’t make the walk, you can donate just to donate to a team to walk for you. Their theme is Dancing through the Decades: Moving Forward as One. You can dress up as any decade. 

Desta Clark, who is a part of JDRF, explained, “It’s just incredible to actually look at that biggest picture through these decades of that impact and life changing progression that JDRF had made.”

Clark described JDRF’s One Walk as a “Sunday Fun Day.” The site opens at 1 p.m. and the second T1D Parade is at 2:05. This parade celebrates our T1D Warriors from the babies to adults. Everyone with Type 1 diabetes walks through and onto the stage. It is to cheer on our T1D people. The walk will follow after the parade at 2:30. Once you finish the 1.3 mile walk around the amphitheater, there are fun events until 5 p.m. There will be food, a local band, a photo booth, and information sites about Type 1 diabetes for our T1D Warriors. This event is for all people and there will be a Kid Zone with face painting, crafts, and inflatables available the whole day. 

Clark said, “We just really make it a fun day to come out together, support a great cause, and have fun together.”

Type 1 diabetes, also called Juvenile Diabetes because it is commonly diagnosed before the age of 12, is when your immune system attacks your insulin-producing beta-cells and it can no longer make insulin. Type 1 and 2 diabetes are not the same, because for Type 2 the pancreas only makes less insulin. Type 2 diabetes can be managed by weight and exercise while Type 1 you must have insulin. JDRF wants to make people living with T1D lives easier with new technologies and medicines. Clark explained that JDRF will keep working and fundraising until Type 1 diabetes has a cure.

JDRF has been working to cure T1D  since 1970. It’s a nonprofit where its money goes to research for Type 1 diabetes. JDRF’s goal is to help the people and families with Type 1 diabetes and make their lives a little easier. 

Clark said, “What brought me to JDRF is the mission.” She was not actually impacted by Type 1 diabetes, like other staff members. “The impact is that we have to really pave the way to make a difference for everyone that is impacted with Type 1 diabetes.” She is also “thankful” that she came to JDRF.

“Every dollar makes a difference,” Clark explained. They aim for $711,000 on this walk. “Every single dollar, like I mentioned before, is going to the research that will find that cure.”  JDRF appreciates all who choose to donate and participate. Clark says she’s “confident” that this walk will reach its goal of $711,000 because of “the amazing community support” we have. 

For more information, or if you want to register, you can go to JDRF’s website, https://www.jdrf.org/. If you can’t make it Sunday, don’t worry. The walks are held every year and in multiple locations at different times. There will be a walk in Charlotte and a walk in Kernersville on Oct. 28, 2023. 

Hope to see you at the walk!