JDRF SW Ohio Walk Talk : The Final Countdown...

JDRF SW Ohio Walk Talk : The Final Countdown...: It's almost here!! The Kings Island Walk to Cure 2013!! I absolutely LOVE this day! It's a day for YOU!! This is such an overwhel...

The Final Countdown...

It's almost here!! The Kings Island Walk to Cure 2013!! I absolutely LOVE this day! It's a day for YOU!! This is such an overwhelming day to see so many wonderful supporters walking for their son, daughter, sister, brother, wife, husband, friend, (you get the idea) who has T1D. It's a day to celebrate diabetes. Yep, that's right...CELEBRATE DIABETES!! You've worked hard. You've written your letters, made videos, had car washes, golf tournaments, lemonade stands, and whatever else you did to raise some money to find a cure!! It's time to par-tay!! and what better place than at Kings Island! This blog is FULL of last minute info. So pull up a chair, grab a drink and get ready!! 

First and foremost the IMPORTANT stuff:

Registration opens at 7am

Don't want to mess with registration that morning? Go here and get it out of the way! Remember: make sure you register ALL the members of your team...even little kids...for liability issues and head count. 

Walk starts at 8am


Parking and Venue Layout: <----click it to see where to park, meet your team, get a group photo, check out some vendors, turn in last minute donations, pick up your t-shirt and gifts, get your MEAL TICKET!! You will need that...your going to be hungry after you walk! There is all kinds of stuff going on in the Venue layout so be sure and check it out!! 

T-shirt Contest: Did you enter? I hope so!! If not, that's okay...get inspired by the shirts around you and enter next year. You can VOTE for the best one, even if you didn't enter. Pick the one you like best and vote on the JDRF Southwest Ohio Facebook page or at the walk! 
Here they are: 

HEY!! You keeping up?!?! I told you there was LOTS of info!! Almost done...hang in there! 



Do you know Joe Downing? You should! He is from Middletown, Ohio, a musician AND a T1D who just happens to be performing at the walk. Another awesome fact about Joe is that he will be donating 100% of the proceeds from downloads and 50% of all CD sales to JDRF during the entire month of June!! So what's stopping ya? Oh, yea, you need his link: Joe Downing. Thank you Joe for providing some tunes and donating your sales!! 

A BIG, BIG, BIG thank you to YOU and our sponsors: 

LAST but not least: If I haven't answered all of your questions you can always go here to find our FAQ's. 

Countdown is days away...LACE up those shoes and we will see you Saturday at Kings Island!! 

JDRF Path of Promise

Hey! Have you heard about the Path of Promise?

It's a new incentive for your walk team! It is an 18 x 18 corrugated yard sign that will be displayed along the Walk to Cure path at Kings Island. It's hard to describe the feeling of seeing a massive amount of family and corporate teams on walk day. Then add a Path of Promise with your loved one's photo and other T1D peeps on signs placed along the way as a visual reminder of why we walk will truly have you in awe.

These T1D Heroes are the face of diabetes.

So how do you get a Path of Promise yard sign?

Easy...

Just make sure you have registered your walk team AND have raised $200 by Tuesday, April 30th and you'll be eligible to be included in the Path of Promise! To "sweeten" the deal you get to keep your yard sale to display at home so your neighbors know you have a T1D Hero living there! How cool!!

Of course, if you have any questions please feel free to contact Nick at the office.

Walk to Cure...5 Weeks Away!!

I can't believe it...the JDRF Walk to Cure at Kings Island is just 5 weeks away...

Yes,

I said,

5 weeks away!!!!!!!!

No need to panic.

You can do a few things to help kickstart your fundraising goal. Can't remember what the goals are? That's okay...you can read about them HERE.

Letter writing campaign: It works. Write a letter about why you walk for JDRF. What it means to you, your loved one, your child.You can be as in depth as you need to be. I try to keep my letter to a page. Add pictures!! If you walked the year before be sure to add your team photo or if your new, add a picture of your "sweet" one. Then get out the Christmas card list. You know the list...the one you pull out every year to send your Christmas cards to and send your letters to those people. Or maybe you don't send Christmas cards...I bet you email!! Send the letter to your email list!! Nothing easier than hitting send!

Another option...ask 10 people for 10 dollars. Ask your boss, your secretary, your Doctor, the bus driver, your neighbor, your hairstylist, the kid down the street...whomever!! Just ask 10 people for $10 and you'll hit $100 easy!

Sell sneakers (paper ones NOT real ones) at work for a day or a week or a month! Have employees/co-workers buy a sneaker and fill your office with sneakers showing support for JDRF and your walk team! (Contact the office for sneakers!)

Have a jeans day at work. Each employee donates $5 to wear jeans on a specific day. Of course get your company's approval first...unless your a rebel...then go for it!

Have a yard sale and donate the proceeds to your walk team. What a great way to get rid of some junk, I mean, treasure!! Raise awareness of  T1D and raise some money for your walk team! Maybe you'll get an extra donation on top of selling your stuff!!

Have a bake sale/lemonade stand. I did this years ago while at our Village yard sale. Met some fellow T1D adults and talked diabetes. It's was great to find others in the community that didn't even know were Type 1 diabetics.

Maybe Golf, Cornhole, Wiffle ball, Volleyball tournaments are more your thing. Great!! Organize a tournament in your neighborhood or park. Invite a bunch a friends and charge them $10 (or whatever dollar amount) and have a fundraiser!! A great way for some exercise and fun for a great cause!

Yes, the walk is 5 weeks away BUT you still have time to go out there and raise some money for your walk team!! Have fun with it!! You can always reach out to Nick Wagner at the office for some other great fundraising ideas! The sky is the limit!!  

A Spoonful of Sugar: An Interview with a T1 Mary Poppins

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down....

Well, unless the medicine is insulin and then you will need to bolus for it!

Mary Poppins is a musical that I loved as a child and still love to this day.  I first saw the show as young child.  It happened to be just at the time that my aunt and babysitter would be leaving and I would be starting school.  I sobbed and sobbed thinking she would go off into the sky with her umbrella!

This show has always been a favorite of mine so I was thrilled to hear that Mary Poppins would be coming to our own local theatre!

But wait... It gets better!

Mary Poppins herself has Type 1 Diabetes!

Ok, so maybe not Mary Poppins but the extraordinarily talented actress, Madeline Trumble, who plays Mary Poppins does.

She was kind enough to be interviewed by my own little Type 1 Reporter who loves musicals and thought that a actress with diabetes... JUST LIKE HER... was about the coolest thing EVER.

Sweets came up these questions all on her own.  And Madeline was so sweet to answer!

Sweets:   How old were you when you got diabetes?  Were you in the hospital?  Was it scary?

Madeline Trumble:    I found out I had diabetes on the first day of Kindergarten. I was a month away from being five. I didn't need to be hospitalized when I was diagnosed. I got really lucky! 

Sweets:     Do you have a pump or a cgm?  What kind?  I have an Omnipod and a Dexcom I call Dexie.

MT:     I have a medtronic pump. I had the same pump for years and years and then last year, I got a new one! I went from blue to purple! It was a big change for me. 

Sweets:   Do you have any friends with type 1?  Are you the only one in your family with type 1?

MT:       I'm the only person in my family with Type 1. And I don't have any friends with Type 1. I kind of am on my own figuring it out... 

(When I read this to Sweets her immediate response was "Well... she does now!")

Sweets:      What happens if you are low on stage?  Do you keep a meter and juice close by?

MT: I've gotten pretty lucky and have never been too low on stage. But I also don't have a lot of time to test my blood sugar or drink juice, so I have to be really careful in the moments I do have. I have to eat good carbs before the show and at intermission. There are juice boxes on either side of the stage, and the whole cast and crew know I have diabetes, so there's always someone to help hand me a juice box if I need it. 

Sweets:     Do you test your blood sugar a lot?

MT: I've been testing a lot more since I've started the show. I have to be really careful, because the show is too hard on my body even when I have good blood sugar. 

Sweets:      What happens if you get sick (she means diabetes sick - not "real people" sick) when you are traveling?  Do you have a special doctor you go to?

MT: I don't have a doctor on the road. I have a doctor at home that I correspond with. But I've had diabetes for almost 20 years, so I know all the inns and outs and am pretty good at monitoring by myself. 

Sweets:     Was it hard to become a singer and actor with diabetes?

MT: No! I've had diabetes for so long, I don't remember life without it. Diabetes has always been a part of me and just something different about me. It can definitely be hard at times and make me sad that I have to deal with something no one else in my life has to deal with. But it's never gotten in the way of anything I've wanted to do. Diabetes makes us more special- because it makes us work harder. It has never held me back and I'm really proud to say that. 

A big THANK YOU to Madeline for answering all of Sweetpea's questions and for being such a wonderful role model!



If you would like information on the show and to see if it's coming to your area, click HERE.

If you live in the Dayton/Cincinnati Ohio area and would like information on the show and getting tickets, click HERE.

And stay tuned...  Sweets gets to meet Madeline IN PERSON on Thursday and we are seeing the show Friday night.  I'm sure we will have lots to share!




Hallie is mom to "Sweetpea" - a seven year old who was dx'd with Type 1 in 2009.  To read more about Hallie, Sweets, or their life with diabetes, check out Hallie's personal blog, The Princess and The Pump!  www.theprincessandthepump.com

Kings Island Edition Part 2

Welcome back to our Kings Island Edition of Walk Talk...so if you read part I then you have already registered for the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes Kings Island Walk for June 1st. If you haven't you can register  HERE. Go ahead...I'll wait...

Great!! You've registered!! You are on your way to joining hundreds of others united for Walking for a Cure!  Part I covered basic questions about the route, registering and fundraising minimums. Today I'll cover some more basic information you need to have for Walk Day.

DATE/TIME: Saturday, June 1st at 8am (yes, I already posted this but figure it's worth repeating!)

PARKING/COST: Parking is FREE for walk participants and will be open at 6:45am. Whew!! That's early!  But for you early risers this will be no problem. If you arrive after 8:15am...you will PAY so don't get there late!!! Please enter through the park's main parking toll and park in DROP TOWER rows 32-41. Basically look for the mass of parked cars...unless your that early riser and your the first to park...

ENJOYING THE PARK: So you've finished the walk and want to stay but you didn't reach the fundraising minimum...NO WORRIES!! You can purchase a discounted ticket of $32.99 at the Kings Island box office, on walk day, from 8:30 am to 11 am. AWESOME!! Oh!! And you can use your Kings Island Season Passes that day too!! Thank you Kings Island!! No reason to not lace up those walking shoes and come on out!!

FOOD: You've just walked 3K and your starving...you forgot to eat breakfast because you were rushing everyone out the door to get your FREE parking. Too bad! JUST KIDDING!!! Of course we are going to feed you!! This year, food will be available AFTER the walk starting around 9am. Hot breakfast sandwiches and assorted fruit for all registered walkers. YUM! We will have beverages (Coca-Cola products, lemonade, tea and my personal life line....COFFEE!!!) available beginning at 7am.

PERK ALERT!!! PERK ALERT!! PERK ALERT!!

On  Walk Day...all walkers who register BY MAY 24th will be given a meal ticket upon entrance to the event...this is HUGE!! Especially if you are staying at the park for the remainder of the day. Please make sure to register walkers of ALL ages to take advantage of this perk! (are you sensing a theme in these posts....registering?!)

Again, if you have any questions about registering please contact our Walk Expert Extraordinaire, Nick Wagner at nwagner@jdrf.org.

Be on the lookout for my next post on "Now I've registered...what now?!"

Many thanks to:

Kings Island Edition

Welcome to the first of many blogs about the JDRF Walk to Cure Kings Island edition! Yes, that’s right, we are back at Kings Island this year with a better route, better food and just all around better-ness! (Not sure if that’s truly a word but as of today…it is!!) So let me give you the low down on the new and improved Walk to Cure Kings Island walk:

DATE/TIME: The walk is Saturday, June 1st and starts at 8am. Yes, it's early but just think...you'll get your exercise in early and have the rest of the day to play! 

ROUTE: This year the walk will be held IN the park; including a segment through the Dinosaurs Alive! exhibit (how cool!?!?!). Instead of starting in the parking lot, as in years past, we will actually start and end in the Timberwolf Amphitheater. For those of you wanting to know your walking mileage…it’s about 3K in length. Oh, and this is important…listen up…You DO NOT need a KI park ticket to participate in the walk!! Did you get that? NO TICKET NEEDED to WALK!!  (Yes!! Very IMPORTANT information!)

REGISTERING: You may ask, “Do I really need to register to walk…and everybody on my team?” YES!! Please do register everyone…including the kids! This helps us know how much food and drinks to order. In registering, you are eligible for special benefits…what are they? You’ll have to check back to see! “What if I don’t register, can I still walk?” … of course!! But, really, register! It doesn’t take that long and we really need to know how much food to have on hand to feed our famished walkers!

FUNDRAISING: If you would like a T-shirt raise $100/walker. IF you would like to stay for the day with a ticket to Kings Island raise $200/walker. If you can't stay for the day the ticket is good for you to come back until June 30th.

So I've given you SOME of the details...don't want to overwhelm you! First thing first...go REGISTER!!! Here is the link to register. Seriously, go do it!! 

If you have any questions please feel free to contact our walk expert extraordinaire, Nick Wagner at the JDRF Southwest Ohio office at nwagner@jdrf.org or 513-793-3223.

Stay tuned for some more details to be blogged about soon...

hey...why you still here? Go register!! 

Many thanks: