Mississippi's Walk for Diabetes

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.