Delegate selected from a pool of nearly 1,500 applicants with type 1 diabetes
Amelia Rehrman, 11, is a young advocate for T1D research and shares her story on her blog Peace.Love.Hope.Diabetes. Photo courtesy of JDRF.
Wilmington, DE —The Delaware Branch of JDRF will send two inspiring young leaders to serve as a delegate to the 2013 JDRF Children’s Congress in Washington, D.C. this summer.
Craig Kleinman, 17, and Amelia Rehrman, 11, have been selected by JDRF to join 150 other children from around the country to remind Congress of the vital need to continue supporting research that aims to reduce the burden they all share, of living with type 1 diabetes (T1D), until a cure becomes available.
Rehrman, from West Grove, PA, spends much time working to advocate and fundraise for JDRF. She enjoys writing and has her own blog, Peace.Love.Hope.Diabetes., where she often writes about her personal experience with diabetes and encourages others to interact and share their stories. She works tirelessly to raise awareness about the disease and the need for a cure. Each year, Rehrman has her entire neighborhood get together for her annual “Diabetes Dash” to help raise money for research.
Kleinman is a young leader and advocate for JDRF. A type 1 diabetic since age 12, Kleinman attends the Tatnall School in Wilmington, DE and was recently selected as the Jefferson Award for Public Service recipient for the state of Delaware because of his volunteer work with JDRF. Earlier this month, Kleinman spent two days in Washington, D.C. with the Jefferson Awards, meeting Senators Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) and speaking about his life with diabetes.
The children attending the Children’s Congress, ages 4 to 17 and representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia, will visit the nation’s capital from July 8 to 10.
Six international children, traveling from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Israel, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, will join them in D.C. The international delegates will partner with U.S. delegates to convey a clear message to the U.S. government that T1D is a global problem that requires a global effort.
Children’s Congress, held every other summer, will once again be led by JDRF International Chairman Mary Tyler Moore, and will include congressional visits by the delegates and a Senate hearing, during which Moore and select delegates and advocates will testify on the need for continued funding for T1D research, under the theme of “Promise to Remember Me.” This theme serves as a powerful call to lawmakers to remember the struggle of living with the disease, and the importance of supporting and funding T1D research.
“These outstanding children and their families all understand, as I do, that type 1 diabetes tests us every day,” said Moore, who has had T1D for more than 40 years. “Children’s Congress gives all of us a voice to urge Congress to increase its support of research, which is essential to reducing the burden of this disease on us and on our country.”
For a video of highlights from the 2011 Children’s Congress, click here.
