Capitol Hill Meetings

Today was the big day!  We met with our elected officials in their offices on Capitol Hill to thank them for their previous support of JDRF and to encourage their continued support for the Special Diabetes Program, which needs to be renewed this year to continue funding for critical research.

Catherine and I started our day with the other Illinois delegates (Colin, Klaire, Morgan, and Emily) at Senator Mark Kirk's office, where we were able to speak to one of his staff members.  After that, we all split up to meet with the Representative from our home district- for Winnetka, that's Rep. Jan Schakowsky.  We all came back together to meet with Sen. Richard Durbin.  His office is inside the Capitol building itself due to his prominence within the Senate and the Democratic party.  Our group even got to ride the special subway that connects the Capitol to the House and Senate office buildings!  Usually reserved for Members of Congress and their staff, we were allowed to ride it with a staff escort.

At each meeting, delegates used homemade scrapbook pages to share their story of living with T1D and the personal significance of a cure.  We are thankful to have elected officials who support JDRF and funding diabetes research, which is a largely bipartisan effort.  Thank you Rep. Schakowsky, Sen. Kirk, and Sen. Durbin!