Santa Monica Daily Press Photo

Thanks to the Santa Monica Daily Press and the team at JDRF!

We are so proud of our 2014 version of Jessica's J-Walkers - Jessica Lee, Greta Capeluto, Kelly Flaherty, Janice Shapiro, Paul Shapiro, Kate Martin, Rosey Angelo and Alex Slater.  This was a fun day at the beautiful Pasadena Rose Bowl, as about 10,000 people came together to raise money to support research for Type 1 Diabetes.  Thanks also to EdgeCast Networks (now part of Verizon) for your generous fundraising on our behalf...the Verizon match has been wonderful!

We're still trying to reach our goal of $25,000 by 12/31/14.  Here's a link to join up as an honorary J-Walker.  All donations through the end of the year will be matched, so your contribution, IN ANY AMOUNT, will be doubled and appreciated that much more!

Here's the link:  http://www2.jdrf.org/goto/j-walkers

Raised $20,000 to date - thank you J-Walker supporters.

In case you haven't had a chance to help yet, we are able to accept donations through year-end. If you're so inclined, here's the link:http://www2.jdrf.org/goto/j-walkers We appreciate your support in any amount.  We'd like to reach $25,000 by 12/31/14 - Thank You!

End of 2009 Update

As of this writing, we (with the help of over 80 walkers, several companies and almost 200 donors) Jessica's J-Walkers has raised amost $37,000 for JDRF research to help find a cure for Type 1 diabetes.  We are still hoping to pass $50,000 before the end of January, realizing that our goal of $70,000 is probably not going to happen.

In other news, Jess has completed and submitted all of her college applications!  Now we just wait until April or May to get the results.  Thanks for all of you who have been asking.  We'll keep you up to date.

Happy New Year and best wishes for a great, successful, prosperous and healthy 2010.

The Shapiro's

JDRF Walk this Sunday, November 8 Dodger Stadium

Just a few days to go until the walk to benefit JDRF and their efforts to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes.  Jessica's J-Walkers has raised over $25,000 and has over 50 registered walkers, plus another 45 or so who have committed through FaceBook.  DC Dance Center will once again be dancing before the walk.

We look forward to a great morning and invite anyone reading this to come out and join us or show support with a donation.  See link to register or donate.

Thanks for being part of this great event for a great cause.

Jessica, Janice and Paul Shapiro
shapirowalk "at" earthlink.net

25% and Counting

2009 has been a tough year for fundraising but our generous donors and supporters have pushed us past 25% of our $70,000 goal with two weeks to go before the walk.  We've also registered almost 30 walkers and with the help of the SMHS choir and the DC DanceCenter dancers, we hope to double that number before long.

We'll continue to push toward our goal and hope that despite the poor economic times, we can at least exceed our results from 2008.

Thank you all for your support and interest in helping JDRF find a cure for Type 1 diabetes and an end to complications.

The JDRF Walk is at Dodgers Stadium on November 8, 2009.  We'd love to have you join us.

Jessica's J-Walkers Announce 2009 JDRF Campaign

To my friends and family:

“Congratulations Class of 2010!” These words will ring out from Santa Monica High School’s Greek Theater on June 24, 2010 as my classmates and I begin a new chapter in our lives. Our adolescence is coming to a close and so is this phase of the J-Walker efforts for JDRF. As I go to college next year, this may be our last walk for a while. I have recently been contemplating the freedoms I will enjoy as I move on and out, and I realized that my diabetes must stay a top priority. Therefore, I recently decided to get a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), a sensor I wear that measures my blood sugar level every 5 minutes and sends the results to my insulin pump. This lifesaver of a device has allowed me to observe trends in my blood sugars throughout the day and feel assured that my levels are (almost) constantly in a good range. With this device, I only have to test my blood sugar twice a day which has given me even more freedom to live a more “normal” life.

Without the help of fundraising dollars for diabetes research, the CGM would never have been developed and made available for use by people with type 1 diabetes. I would like to thank everyone who has generously supported Jessica’s J-Walkers in the past six years as we raised over $300,000 for diabetes research.

We need your support to reach our goal of $70,000 (It’s our 7th year – why not dream big!) There are 2 ways you can help:

· Make a donation to JDRF.
· Walk with our team in & around Dodger Stadium on Sunday, November 8, 2009, and raise money from your friends and family to contribute even more to JDRF.
For the 1st time, we are going to donate $25.00 to JDRF for each walker who signs up online.

To donate online or sign-up for the walk, go to www.jdrf.org and search for “Jessica Shapiro” or use:
http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmid=87361319
DON’T WAIT – DONATE TODAY!
Thank you in advance for your support and please forward this letter to your friends and family.

We are also proud of the companies whose employees continue to support JDRF. If you’d like to get your company more involved, we’re happy to help.

Thank you in advance for supporting the cause in any way you can!
Jessica, Janice, and Paul Shapiro

$50,000 4 YEARS!

We are so proud of all of our supporters, walkers and donors. For the 4th year in a row, we've raised over $50,000 for JDRF and their efforts to find a cure for type 1 diabetes. And if we are somehow able to raise another $3,000, we'll have passed $300,000 in our 6 years of walking for JDRF.

Jessica is doing well and starting to take the standardized college entrance tests as well as begin using her driver's permit to learn how to drive. Wish us all luck!:>)

Thanks again to everyone who has helped us over the years. We hate to ask people for money but the generosity of our supporters eases that anxiety greatly.

Warm regards and best wishes from the Shapiro's.

JDRF Praises President for Executive Order Lifting Restrictions on Stem Cell Research

Urges NIH to Develop Research Guidelines Based on Sound Science

March 9, 2009, Washington, DC -- The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, a leader in setting the agenda for diabetes research worldwide and the largest charitable funder and advocate of type 1 diabetes research, praised President Barack Obama for the Executive Order officially repealing the existing policy limiting federal research funding for embryonic stem cell research to cell lines established prior to August 9, 2001.

"We're very grateful to President Obama for setting in place a policy to fully explore this promising field of science," said new JDRF President and CEO, Dr. Alan Lewis. "President Obama's Executive Order is a strong signal to patients, scientists, and the nation that we have his full support to pursue science that may accelerate progress to new treatments and possible cures for diabetes."

Type 1 diabetes affects as many as 3 million people in the U.S., causing the immune system to attack insulin-producing cells in the pancreas so that the body no longer uses sugar to create energy. There is no cure for type 1 diabetes. Research into human embryonic stem cells could speed the development of a cure for diabetes by helping researchers better understand how the disease occurs and eventually derive insulin-producing cells that are safe to use for transplantation. These discoveries are years away, but federal guidance and funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will help speed scientific progress.

"This is an exciting day for children and adults living with type 1 diabetes, their families, and everyone with a connection to diabetes who have worked for years to remove restrictions to this research," said Dr. Lewis. "Now researchers, physicians, and ethicists at NIH can make decisions on ethical research based purely on sound science."

Read JDRF International Chairman Mary Tyler Moore's statement on the order.

About JDRF
JDRF is a leader in setting the agenda for diabetes research worldwide, and is the largest charitable funder and advocate of type 1 research. The mission of JDRF is to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research. Type 1 diabetes is a disease which strikes children and adults suddenly and requires multiple injections of insulin daily or a continuous infusion of insulin through a pump. Insulin, however, is not a cure for diabetes, nor does it prevent its eventual and devastating complications which may include kidney failure, blindness, heart disease, stroke, and amputation.

Since its founding in 1970 by parents of children with type 1 diabetes, JDRF has awarded more than $1.3 billion to diabetes research, including more than $156 million in FY2008. In FY2008 the Foundation funded more than 1,000 centers, grants and fellowships in 22 countries.

Latest Update, 01/18/09

We're pretty excited about the results so far for our 100 for $100 campaign. Although we're still short of our $50,000 goal (but within $2,000) we did get 45 responses to date. JDRF has extended the deadline for making donations to Jessica's J-Walkers until February 20, 2009, so we're hoping to get a few more and pass our goal, despite the state of the economy.

Thanks for reading this and if you'd like to help us out, you can donate online at:

http://walk.jdrf.org/walker.cfm?id=86992329

or send an email to shapirowalk at earthlink.net, and just put the @ sign where it says "at".

Thanks for all of your support.

The Shapiros

100 for $100

Jessica's J-Walkers has launched a new initiative to increase our overall fundraising for JDRF for 2008 to $50,000. We are calling it "100 for $100". If 100 of our friends donate at least $100 each, we will reach $10,000 in additional donations. Its that simple. ..If you had a good year and can afford more, that'll help us get to our goal that much sooner. If $100 is out of reach, please send us what you can.

The link to donate online is below, or send an email to shapirowalk at earthlink.net (substitute the @ sign for at) and we'll give you the mailing address.

All donations are tax deductible and JDRF uses the funds for diabetes research to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes and ease its long-term complications.

We thank you. Jessica, Janice and Paul Shapiro

http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmid=86992329