Each year, more than 15,000 children in the United States are diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. That's 40 children a day. The disease, which can strike suddenly, has no cure.
While insulin can help manage the disease, it does not prevent devastating complications such as kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, amputations, heart attack and stroke, as well as complications during pregnancies.
For more than 25 years, Ford has been involved in helping to find a cure through our support of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). In 1983, Ford hosted a JDRF fundraising walk in Dearborn. In 1998, the grassroots employee initiative now known as the Ford Global Walk Team began, with Edsel B. Ford II as the corporate team chair. The event has grown dramatically over the last decade. Since 2002, Ford has been the JDRF's largest corporate&em;and only international&em;sponsor.
Ford volunteers donate significant time to leverage the Company's financial support of the JDRF. In 2009, an estimated 12,000 Ford employees, retirees, families and friends, in 10 countries and across three continents, participated in walks and held book sales, silent auctions and raffles to raise money for diabetes research. Together with support from national partner companies, they raised more than $3.4 million, bringing the total amount raised by Ford volunteers to more than $30 million since 1998.
Ford is proud to have been presented with the JDRF President's Award for eight consecutive years, earning recognition as the Top Corporate Sponsor in the world.
The JDRF is the leading charitable funder and advocate for juvenile diabetes research. Since its founding in 1970, the JDRF has awarded more than $1.4 billion to diabetes research, including more than $101 million in fiscal year 2009.