JDRF and Walgreens Customers Raise More Than $4.6 Million for Type 1 Diabetes Research in One Month, Team Up to Raise More During Flu Season

Contact:
Tara Wilcox-Ghanoonparvar, 212-479-7524; twilcox-ghanoonparvar@jdrf.org

Walgreens and its customers helped break a fundraising record during its July campaign for JDRF. Now, the company is teaming up with JDRF to raise additional dollars for type 1 diabetes research during flu season.—

New York, NY, September 12, 2013–Throughout the month of July, customers of Walgreens, the nation’s largest drugstore chain, helped raise more than $4.6 million for JDRF, the leading global organization funding type 1 diabetes (T1D) research. Customers could donate $1, $2, $5, or $10 to JDRF via the pin-pad at checkout at more than 8,000 Walgreens stores across the United States and Puerto Rico. Their generosity set a fundraising record for the company, making Walgreens largest corporate sponsor of JDRF.

“We are grateful to Walgreens for its exceptional support of our mission, and we thank all of its customers for making such a positive impact on our research programs and helping the millions of people affected by type 1 diabetes,” says Jeffery Brewer, president and CEO of JDRF. “For more than two decades, Walgreens has been a dedicated corporate participant, and JDRF is pleased to work with a company that is helping to lessen the impact of type 1 diabetes until we find a cure.”

“Walgreens Way to Well Commitment is dedicated to providing resources that help with the prevention and detection of today’s leading diseases,” says Jack Cantlin, divisional vice president of Retail Clinical Services for Walgreens. “We’d like to thank our customers for their contributions and aligned efforts to help people get, stay, and live well.”

Walgreens has worked with JDRF since 1992 and has raised more than $24 million dollars in support of JDRF’s goal of creating a world without T1D. JDRF is proud to be a partner of Walgreens Way to Well Commitment®, which began in 2011 as a four-year, $100 million initiative to improve the everyday health of Americans nationwide. Through the initiative, Walgreens is focused on supporting the prevention and early detection of today’s leading diseases.

JDRF and Walgreens are teaming up again this fall to give JDRF supporters the chance to support T1D research when they their flu shots. From September 1 through October 31, Walgreens will donate $1 to JDRF for each flu shot administered when a customer presents the JDRF/Walgreens flyer at checkout. Flyers are available at Walgreens stores and online at jdrf.org/walgreensflushot. Walgreens has committed a minimum of $25,000 to this program, with a maximum of $100,000.

About JDRF
JDRF is the leading global organization funding type 1 diabetes (T1D) research. JDRF’s goal is to progressively remove the impact of T1D from people’s lives until we achieve a world without T1D. JDRF collaborates with a wide spectrum of partners and is the only organization with the scientific resources, regulatory influence, and a working plan to better treat, prevent, and eventually cure T1D.

As the largest charitable supporter of T1D research, JDRF is currently sponsoring $530 million in scientific research in 17 countries. In 2012 alone, JDRF provided more than $110 million to T1D research. More than 80 percent of JDRF’s expenditures directly support research and research-related education. In 2012 Forbes magazine named JDRF one of its five All-Star charities, citing the organization’s efficiency and effectiveness.

About Walgreens
As the nation’s largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2012 sales of $72 billion, Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) vision is to be the first choice in health and daily living for everyone in America, and beyond. Each day, Walgreens provides more than 6 million customers the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice in communities across America. Walgreens scope of pharmacy services includes retail, specialty, infusion, medical facility and mail service, along with respiratory services. These services improve health outcomes and lower costs for payers including employers, managed care organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers and the public sector. The company operates 8,105 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Take Care Health Systems is a Walgreens subsidiary that is the largest and most comprehensive manager of worksite health and wellness centers, medical practices, and in-store convenient care clinics, with more than 700 locations throughout the country.