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?