On June 26th JDRF Central PA Chapter staff, board members, families, volunteers, and other supporters gathered at the Penn State Milton Hershey Medical Center for the Chapter’s Annual Meeting.  The Central PA Chapter had an amazing year thanks to all of our families, volunteers, donors, and other supporters.  But we’ve got a lot more work to do to support some very exciting opportunities in type 1 diabetes (T1D) research.  T1D doesn’t wait, and neither will we!  We hope you will join us!

JDRF Central PA Chapter Board President, Dan Hayward, started off the meeting with a review of the 2013 Fiscal Year, in which the Central PA Chapter raised $1.2 million for diabetes research.  This JDRF Chapter has the most outstanding group of volunteers, donors, and family fundraisers that an organization could ask for, and could not have surpassed $1 million in revenue for the 2nd year in a row without each and every one of you!

For the coming fiscal year, the Chapter goal is $1.4 million, which would mean $1 million in net revenue going directly to research and research related education.  This is a big goal that is going to require a lot of hard work and dedication from the JDRF board, volunteers, families, and staff.  We are ready to accept this challenge, and know you are too!

Tom Brobson, JDRF National Director of Research Investment Opportunities and an adult with type 1 diabetes, joined us to speak about JDRF’s vision of a world without type 1 diabetes, and the plan JDRF has for actually creating such a world.  JDRF is the only global organization with a strategic plan to bring a continuous flow of life-changing therapies and, ultimately, a cure for T1D.  That is our promise of “Less Until None”.  We want to substantially lessen the daily impact and dangers of life with T1D until the day when we can remove T1D completely from people’s lives.

One exciting current research initiative is the Artificial Pancreas Project.  Tom has participated in Artificial Pancreas Clinical Trials, and shared his personal experience.  Can you imagine a future where tight glucose control is maintained automatically by your smartphone, and you don’t have to constantly think about managing your T1D?  Participating in these studies gave Tom a first hand glimpse of this future.  JDRF is working to make this future a reality. To learn more about the Artificial Pancreas Project, click here.

The Artificial Pancreas Project is just one example of the many therapies and scientific avenues that JDRF is researching on our path to the cure.  Tom pointed out that this concept of the “cure” is defined differently by each individual affected by T1D.  That is part of the reason JDRF balances our investment across the research pipeline to drive continuous delivery of various therapies in the near-, mid-, and long-term.  What does the Cure mean to you? We want to know!

As wtih the Artificial Pancreas Project, our past investments have yielded significant advances.  But, Tom reminded us, it will require substantial annual investments to reach our goal of living in a time when T1D is spoken about in the past tense. We need you to help bridge the gap and provide the future we must have for people with T1D.

There are many ways that you can help us along this path to a world without T1D.

One way is by supporting your local JDRF Chapter through volunteering, donations, or your participation in Chapter events.  For information on how to get more involved with the Central PA Chapter, please calls us at (717) 901-6489.

Another way you can help is by following Tom’s example and participating in clinical trials.  Even if you don’t have T1D, but are a first degree relative of someone who does, your participation in research could help move us closer to new therapies, preventions, and ultimately a cure.  If you are interested in getting involved with clinical trials, please visit https://www.jdrf.org/research/clinical-trials/ for more information or to sign up!

We hope you will join us and Tom as we work to create a world without T1D!