This weekend, I was honored to be a part of a group of bloggers heading to Washington, DC, to be part of JDRF’s Government Day — actually a four-day event that is “part training session, part research update, part networking opportunity, and part celebration of our JDRF’s Advocacy Program.”
I was there along with active online advocates Mike Hoskins, Scott Johnson, Kelly Kunik, Kelly Rawlings, Cherise Shockley, Scott Strange, Kerri Sparling, and Kim from Texting My Pancreas. We had a great time meeting with volunteers on JDRF’s Advocacy and Government Relations teams, sharing with them what we do here in the Diabetes Online Community, and how and why they should be a part of it, too. We made a lot of friends and we hope to see them here soon!
We also had a wonderful meeting with Jeffrey Brewer, the new CEO and President of JDRF, who recently made some statements about the new direction of the organization that sent shockwaves through the diabetes community.
I spent the better part of the conference traipsing around with my , interviewing some of the advocates who meet with Members of Congress on our behalf and capturing as much of the event as I could.
Here’s what happened:
[...] you want to get some inside peeks into the event, head over to DiabetesMine where I’ve put together a little video about the [...]
What a wonderful recap. Thank you.
I am inspired by the dedication of the volunteers. Their passion resonates from the screen and I am sure they are quite effective in their positions…just from the short clips that were viewed here.
The blogger roundtable made me cry…I was there on Ustream and it was like watching a “Blog Concert”. I hope that some parent bloggers are included in the future…to mix up the perspective a bit.
Great post.
I also enjoyed followng JDRF’s Government Day(s) tweets by my friend Hallie of The Princess and The Pump blog. Really great video! Thanks for the recap, and of course thank you for being there and advocating for all those with type 1 diabetes.
Allison, This video is terrific. Thank you so very much for attending JDRF government day (days!) and for being such a super advocate on behalf of our loved ones living with diabetes. As the mother of four and grandmother of eight, I was not all that excited about social networking. Boy, have I changed my mind. You go girl!
Melinda Rose
Mom of Stephen, age 31 a type 1
Sister of Martin, age 64 a type 1
Grandmother of two, who are being watched for developing T1diabetes
Great video! Following JDRF Gov Days on twitter was inspiring, the video brings it to live. Thanks for sharing.
Allison,
Thank you so much for this tremendous compilation highlighting the work of JDRF Government Relations advocates. You have managed to capture the essence and enthusiam of our advocacy team. Thank you for sharing this with the larger Diabetes Community and adding your voice and platform to our mission of advocating for research.
Michelle
You put together an absolutely fantastic video that certainly highlighted the scope of the weekend beautifully. As a grandmother, the whole DOC is a new thing for me and I never realized how important it was to so many people. As you probably know, Scott and Kerri set me up so that I can start blogging! ( I have posted 1 so far!!) What a great example you are!! Thank you so much!
[...] Allison Blass: Our View of Government Day (includes some great video!) and JDRF, the Government, and Adults with Type 1 [...]
[...] the weekend filming a new video segment for DiabetesMine. I sent out calls for a brunch, but with Government Day earlier that week, it kept slipping my mind. In the end, it was just the four of us and we convened [...]
Allison,
This is an awesome recap thanks so much!!