Walking with a Purpose in Georgia
Wet but worth it
My sister was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes a couple of years ago, so it was a big coincidence when I found out that my host sister has type 1 diabetes too. When my host family told me that we were going to participate in the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) One Walk in Atlanta, I was really excited.
JDRF raises money with different events for medical research to cure type 1 diabetes one day. We started raising money about one month before the actual walk. On the JDRF website, we created a team page where people could donate money. My host family’s friends and family donated as well as my family in Germany, so we raised a lot of money.
On the day of the walk, we arrived at Olympic Park in Atlanta and got our T-shirts ahead of the 9 a.m. walk. Unfortunately it was raining that day, but it was fun anyway. The route was 2.5 miles long. We walked fast because of the weather, so we were finished in 30 minutes. The JDRF Walk was really cool even though the weather wasn’t good. We raised money for a cause that affects both my host family and my family, and I am happy about that.
—Alexa (Germany), hosted by the Patterson family (GA)
