Wow, today was amazing! I am so glad that I was able to contribute to the successful start of the Promise Campaign. As the Promise to Remember Me Campaign's International Co-Chair, I've been busy promoting the campaign on my music tour, and was very excited for it to finally begin.
To launch the Promise campaign on August 1, I flew into D.C. for a meeting with the representative from my hometown of Richmond, VA, Rep. Eric Cantor. Some other JDRF advocates from his district, the Schutt family and Mike Anderson, joined me and Congressman Cantor to officially launch the campaign.
During the event, I was able to share my story of living with diabetes, along with seven year old Ned Schutt and Mike Anderson who was diagnosed with type 1 in his 30s. We were able to make the points that you can be diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a child, as a teenager, or as an adult, and it is with you every minute of every day. I also had the opportunity to talk about the importance of renewing the Special Diabetes Program in order to avoid a 35% drop in funding for type 1 diabetes research. Congressman Cantor expressed his strong support for working with me and JDRF to renew the program this year. It was awesome to hear first-hand of his commitment to helping with this important effort in Congress. The event couldn't have been better, as we are so close to finding a cure! Congressman Cantor gave Ned, Mike, and me his "promise" to remember us and be a leader on working to increase federal support for diabetes research.
So after this meeting, I blitzed Capitol Hill to visit with other Representatives who will play important roles in extending the Special Diabetes Program. It was great to be able to thank them for their efforts in person and tell them my story. It was clear that all of them understand the challenges of living with type 1 diabetes and are committed to this important effort. I met with Rep. Lois Capps (CA), Rep. Chris Van Hollen (MD), and Rep. Zack Space (OH). I also talked about the role that they can play in the Promise Campaign by hosting JDRF families in their district offices for meetings.
Now, I'm headed back on the road, but I'm definitely counting on you to register for a Promise meeting in your area today. I'll be cheering you on and getting more kids and families to participate in the Promise Campaign by making announcements about the program while I'm on tour. I'll also be checking the Promise Website to read about the meetings that are taking place all over the country. So let's all keep working --- together we can make this Promise a reality!
I encourage you to get involved by meeting with your local Senators and Representatives.
To learn more, please visit http://promise.jdrf.org.
I look forward to hearing back from you...
Elliott