National Volunteer Week

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Happy National Volunteer Week! From April 21-26, Breakthrough T1D is taking this week to celebrate and recognize our outstanding chapter volunteers. Meet just a few of our many  incredible volunteers below!

Outreach Ambassador Chairs, Jessica Brown & Ginger Eichhorn

Outreach Ambassador Chairs manage and mentor a team of local Outreach Ambassadors within their assigned chapter, playing a vital role in ensuring critical support is provided to newly diagnosed families and individuals. In this role, Jessica and Ginger coordinate over 30 volunteers and provide outreach to more than 650 families a year! Jessica and Ginger are dedicated T1D moms and exceptional leaders—we’re deeply grateful for their longevity, commitment, and partnership within this critically important program.

Kansas & Missouri Community Board Presidents, Matt Copeland and Caleb Herbst

Matt and Caleb have both served as Community Board Presidents since June of 2022. We continue to be amazed by their passion and commitment to creating a world without type 1 diabetes. Thank you both for your incredible service to Breakthrough T1D!

Kansas City Volunteer, Grace Silverio

Driven to improve the lives of those with diabetes, Grace has a passion to help address healthcare inequities and joins the Breakthrough T1D staff at various health fairs, health equity workshops and with agencies supporting populations in need. She also serves on the Kansas City Community Board of Directors and as Board Secretary for Diversity in Diabetes. Join us in thanking Grace for all she has done and continues to do for the diabetes community!

Breakthrough T1D Ride Coaches, Tommy Short and Lisa Van Fleet

As Ride coaches, Tommy & Lisa not only help our local Ride team, but also assist at our destination Rides throughout the season. Local training rides will be starting soon, but there’s still time to register to be on our team. Check out the destination Ride locations and register at ride.jdrf.org.

Adult Type 1 Volunteers, Jessica Dudzinski, Eric Sorrentino & Alyssa Riggs
Eric, Jessica and Alyssa all have created volunteer led groups for adults living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) in the Kansas City area. These groups are great ways to meet others living with T1D and get involved with Breakthrough T1D. To learn more about Adult Type 1 Resources and events in Kansas City, please visit: https://www.jdrf.org/kansasmissouri/p/kansas-city-adult-type-1-resources/.
One Walk Chair, Julie Wisbrock
Julie served as the 2023 and 2024 Walk Chair for the Kansas and Missouri Chapter. In this role, Julie helped to build last relationships with walk teams. Her dedication led to exceeding new team recruitment goals and overall fundraising goals for the 2023 St. Louis One Walk. Julie’s warmth and passion for our mission comes through in everything she does to support Breakthrough T1D.

Advocacy Team, Judy Krtek, Melissa Cooper and Lizzie Quante

Judy serves on the Breakthrough T1D Grassroots Leadership Team (GLT), a group of skilled Advocacy volunteers who serve as a direct extension of the national Breakthrough T1D Advocacy team. Lizzie and Melissa both serve as our Advocacy Team Chairs (ATCs), supporting the legislative and policy priorities set forth by Breakthrough T1D advocacy by engaging and growing the local base of advocates, taking action on alerts, building relationships with Members of Congress, participating in virtual campaigns and sharing information on social media. Thank you Judy, Melissa & Lizzie for your passion and commitment to Breakthrough T1D! Learn more about Breakthrough T1D advocacy and register to be a Breakthrough T1D advocate today at www.jdrf.org/impact/advocacy/.

Thank you to all of our outstanding Kansas & Missouri volunteers! Learn more about volunteering at Breakthrough T1D at www.jdrf.org/volunteer.