On June 22, 2016, The South Jersey Chapter held its Annual Meeting for FY 2016, which ended on June 30, 2016. The meeting was a celebration of the tremendous accomplishments for our chapter in furthering the goal to end Type I Diabetes. During FY 2016, our chapter raised over $1.9 million. FY 2016 also saw record participation in Breakthrough T1D Ride program fundraising and our most successful gala to date! Other significant accomplishments included

•        Expansion of Outreach programs including TypeOneNation Summit
•        Revival of the chapters Young Leadership Committee (YLC)
•        Introduction of Breakthrough T1D One Walk across the chapter for both walks
•        Continued successful results for the Breakthrough T1D Advocacy Program in Washington, D.C.

At the Annual Meeting we also presented the following awards, recognizing outstanding volunteer contributions to our chapter:

•  Volunteer of the Year- Lorraine Silk
• Outstanding Leadership Award-Vincent Myers
• Outstanding Corporate Partner-Ruth’s Hallmark
• Unsung Hero Award- Dr. Ben Yang
• Lifetime Achievement Award- Dr. Ernest Post

The end of the 2016 fiscal year also marks the end of the Board terms for the following chapter leaders:

• Caren Frank
• Scott Kasper
• Kathi O’Neill
• Cindy Kramer
• Robert Petcove
• Dr. Ernest Post
        

Finally, our chapter welcomed the following members to the Board effective July 1, 2016

• Ross Laufgraben-Ross is the father of a T1D, Morgan. Morgan’s walk team, “Team Morgano” continues to be a top fundraising team for the fall walk. Ross also serves as an Outreach Mentor, delivering the “Bag of Hope” to newly diagnosed families and serves as the Family Team Chair on the walk committee.
• Kevin Riefenstahl- Kevin is an attorney at The Chartwell Law Offices. He is a member of the South Jersey Chapter Ride to Cure Diabetes team and participates in the walk. Kevin is the father of a T1D, Holden.

Additional highlights of the Annual Meeting included a presentation by Breakthrough T1D National Speakers Bureau member and Past Board President, Scott Kasper, who detailed the many research advancements. Breakthrough T1D made exciting progress this year in our mission of accelerating life-changing breakthroughs to cure, prevent and treat type 1 diabetes (T1D) and its complications. The following blog and video feature several prominent advances in T1D research made possible by you, our greatest supporters. In the video, Aaron Kowalski, Ph.D., chief mission officer and vice president, research at Breakthrough T1D presents the top advances and takes questions from the T1D community…take a look.

On behalf of Tom Deeney, South Jersey Chapter Board President, and Nanette Gerst, Executive Director, thank you to all that attended. Please visit the chapter’s Facebook page to view photos from this year’s event.