Calling all families touched by diabetes!
Does one of your parents have diabetes? What about your child? How about a coworker, friend, neighbor or member of your immediate or church family?
“With 346,500 Mississippians living with diabetes, chances are good that someone you know has diabetes,” said Mary Fortune, of the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi, who has had type 1 diabetes for over 40 years. “Join us at Mississippi’s Walk for Diabetes, held in six locations around the state. We need your help to raise critical funds for life-saving medical supplies for Mississippians with no insurance and to continue providing care, programs and services to all Mississippians who ask for our help, whether a child or a senior.”
Mississippi’s Walk for Diabetes will be held first in Jackson on Sunday, Oct. 4, followed by Columbus on October 18 and McComb on October 24. Walkers and runners alike will lace up their sneakers October 25 in Meridian, November 1 in Oxford and November 8 in Hattiesburg.
The annual event will feature a one-mile walk or 5k run, music, a ‘Sugar,’ – the DFM mascot– look-alike contest, a picnic and fun for the entire family.
Every dollar raised here in Mississippi stays in Mississippi. In fact, a $25 donation pays for one vial of certain types of insulin; $50 buys one box of glucose testing strips; $75 sends one Mississippi child to the DFM’s weekend Camp Kandu; and $125 provides one newly diagnosed child with a ‘We Care 2’ backpack full of a meter, strips and other valuable information. A donation of $150 provides an emergency care box to a Mississippi school or daycare center to help them keep their students with diabetes safe and healthy. A donation of $250 pays for screening supplies for 100 people.
“Times are tough, and now more than ever, people are turning to us for help,” Fortune said. “And now more than ever, we’re asking you to join us at Mississippi’s Walk for Diabetes. You, along with your family and friends, can make a real difference in the lives of so many Mississippi individuals and families who have nowhere else to turn but to us, the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi. We ask that you form a team and help us defeat diabetes!”
The Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi (DFM) is the state’s only nonprofit health organization that provides diabetes research, information, patient services and advocacy, and its mission is to provide hope through programs, services and research to the 346,500 Mississippians with diabetes. Every dollar raised by the DFM stays in the state to support these efforts. In addition, 89 cents of every dollar raised goes toward the organization’s charitable purposes. The DFM is the one diabetes organization totally dedicated to all Mississippians– from children to seniors– who live with diabetes.
For more information about the Mississippi’s Walk for Diabetes near you, visit www.msdiabetes.org or call 1-877-DFM-CURE.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Adding Life to Years
We are the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi.
Operative word: Mississippi.
No other nonprofit diabetes group can tout that it works solely for Mississippians. Nor can any other group say that it provides scholarships for our state's children to attend summer diabetes camps, and no other nonprofit diabetes organization in the Magnolia State can say that they provide actual help to people who have no insurance.
We do a lot.
Our phones ring off the hook every day with requests for assistance. People who have nowhere else to turn, people who are desperate for medical attention and for help with their testing supplies, people who feel that all is lost- these are the people with whom we interact on a day-to-day basis.
And we serve everyone.
Some groups serve a select audience, and this fact is something many people do not know. We do not cherry-pick families to serve. We do not discriminate based on a type 1 or type 2 diagnosis. We do not focus solely on children or adults- we serve EVERYONE. Mississippi is lucky to have a local, grassroots organization working for it and its 346,500 citizens with diabetes. Believe it or not, we are one of only a handful of states with such an organization.
Why does that matter?
It matters because every day, people make donations to other groups who send their money to a national chapter. Translation: Hard-earned monies are traveling to larger cities in bigger states, and a small fraction of the money, if any at all, stays in our state. And it matters because Mississippi ranks No. 1 in the United States for obesity and a string of related epidemics, including diabetes. With that being said, our state needs as much help as it can possibly get. Translation: Money that leaves our state cannot directly benefit our state.
Where does that leave the thousands of Mississippians who need help with their medications or with educating their child's teacher about diabetes and its complications?
No money, no service.
It's important for people to understand who we are as an organization, and that we are deeply, 110 percent committed to ALL Mississippians with diabetes- from our children to our seniors. And it's important for people to know that our services are available to people with no strings attached. When we visit a newly diagnosed child in the hospital, which we did just yesterday- three times, it's not because we're secretly hoping to make a profit off of that family; we want and need for people to know that we have a multitude of resources available to them at their fingertips, and at little or no cost.
Caring for ALL Mississippians and adding life to years- that's what we do. Won't you join us?
Operative word: Mississippi.
No other nonprofit diabetes group can tout that it works solely for Mississippians. Nor can any other group say that it provides scholarships for our state's children to attend summer diabetes camps, and no other nonprofit diabetes organization in the Magnolia State can say that they provide actual help to people who have no insurance.
We do a lot.
Our phones ring off the hook every day with requests for assistance. People who have nowhere else to turn, people who are desperate for medical attention and for help with their testing supplies, people who feel that all is lost- these are the people with whom we interact on a day-to-day basis.
And we serve everyone.
Some groups serve a select audience, and this fact is something many people do not know. We do not cherry-pick families to serve. We do not discriminate based on a type 1 or type 2 diagnosis. We do not focus solely on children or adults- we serve EVERYONE. Mississippi is lucky to have a local, grassroots organization working for it and its 346,500 citizens with diabetes. Believe it or not, we are one of only a handful of states with such an organization.
Why does that matter?
It matters because every day, people make donations to other groups who send their money to a national chapter. Translation: Hard-earned monies are traveling to larger cities in bigger states, and a small fraction of the money, if any at all, stays in our state. And it matters because Mississippi ranks No. 1 in the United States for obesity and a string of related epidemics, including diabetes. With that being said, our state needs as much help as it can possibly get. Translation: Money that leaves our state cannot directly benefit our state.
Where does that leave the thousands of Mississippians who need help with their medications or with educating their child's teacher about diabetes and its complications?
No money, no service.
It's important for people to understand who we are as an organization, and that we are deeply, 110 percent committed to ALL Mississippians with diabetes- from our children to our seniors. And it's important for people to know that our services are available to people with no strings attached. When we visit a newly diagnosed child in the hospital, which we did just yesterday- three times, it's not because we're secretly hoping to make a profit off of that family; we want and need for people to know that we have a multitude of resources available to them at their fingertips, and at little or no cost.
Caring for ALL Mississippians and adding life to years- that's what we do. Won't you join us?
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The Importance of Transparency
Who is the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi?
The answer is simple.
We are the state's leaders in diabetes care. We are the only nonprofit organization in Mississippi that provides programs and services, education and empowerment to every, single Mississippian- young and old- with diabetes.
What type of programs and services?
The Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi is the only organization that actually keeps every dollar raised in Mississippi to provide such services as a FREE school program for teachers who have students in their classroom with diabetes. This program saves lives every year, and this program is offered solely by the Diabetes Foundation.
Yes, we are in the business of saving lives. And we do- everyday.
For those individuals who have too little insurance or no insurance at all, when others shrugged and told them, "I'm sorry, I don't know what else to tell you," the DFM offered assistance in the form of life-saving medications and emergency testing supplies.
Eighty-nine cents of every dollar raised is applied toward the Diabetes Foundation's charitable purpose. What does this mean, you ask?
It means that through the generosity of donors and fundraisers, the DFM is sending 35 Mississippi children to diabetes camp this year. What other group can say that they've given scholarships to THIRTY-FIVE Mississippi children, and along with that scholarship, help for today and hope for a healthy future.
Who is the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi?
We're neighbors helping neighbors, people who genuinely care- not because we want a donation, but because it's our civic duty to leave Mississippi a healthier place than we found it.
The next time someone asks you to make a donation, ask them where the money is going. If the answer is something vague, stop and ask yourself about how your donation will directly affect the lives of people around you. If you don't ask, who will?
The answer is simple.
We are the state's leaders in diabetes care. We are the only nonprofit organization in Mississippi that provides programs and services, education and empowerment to every, single Mississippian- young and old- with diabetes.
What type of programs and services?
The Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi is the only organization that actually keeps every dollar raised in Mississippi to provide such services as a FREE school program for teachers who have students in their classroom with diabetes. This program saves lives every year, and this program is offered solely by the Diabetes Foundation.
Yes, we are in the business of saving lives. And we do- everyday.
For those individuals who have too little insurance or no insurance at all, when others shrugged and told them, "I'm sorry, I don't know what else to tell you," the DFM offered assistance in the form of life-saving medications and emergency testing supplies.
Eighty-nine cents of every dollar raised is applied toward the Diabetes Foundation's charitable purpose. What does this mean, you ask?
It means that through the generosity of donors and fundraisers, the DFM is sending 35 Mississippi children to diabetes camp this year. What other group can say that they've given scholarships to THIRTY-FIVE Mississippi children, and along with that scholarship, help for today and hope for a healthy future.
Who is the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi?
We're neighbors helping neighbors, people who genuinely care- not because we want a donation, but because it's our civic duty to leave Mississippi a healthier place than we found it.
The next time someone asks you to make a donation, ask them where the money is going. If the answer is something vague, stop and ask yourself about how your donation will directly affect the lives of people around you. If you don't ask, who will?
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