A walk held at the Virgil’s Centennial Sports Park on Sunday managed to raise a little more than $13,000 in a fight to find a cure for juvenile diabetes.
The Niagara Juvenile Diabetes Reserach Foundation Walk to Cure Diabetes narrowly missed its fundraising target of $15,000, said a regional administrator with the national organization, but those who took part in the walk enjoyed the spirit of the event.
“It was so much fun,” said Miriam Dos Anjos, a senior development officer Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Canada, based out of Aurora, who was in Virgil to take part in the fun.
“It was such an inclusive family-filled fun day,” she said.
The immediate goal of the walk was about being surrounded by others who know what it’s like to have the rare health condition, Dos Anjos added.
“The walk provides an opportunity for kids to meet other kids living with Type 1 diabetes, maybe even make a make a buddy helping them feel less alone on their journey,” she said.
Over 120 people registered for the walk, which turned into a run for many.
Jumping out of the gates at 10:45 a.m., participants completed three one-kilometre loops of the complex and then were treated to games, prizes and family activities.
This was the 50th anniversary of the organization’s Walk to Cure Diabetes.
Similar events were held close to 50 communities across the country.
