By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR
cpastor@tampatrib.com
Published: April 22, 2009
KEYSTONE - Before taking his message to Washington, Jacob Rivers brought it to school.
Jacob, 11, and fellow fifth-graders at Hammond Elementary have been educating their classmates about diabetes to try to raise money for research into the disease. To raise money, they sold paper sneakers that hung in classrooms and took pledges from sponsors if they agreed to participate in a one-hour walk around the track.
They held the walk on April 15.
Students want to make a service project a fifth-grade tradition at the school, which opened two years ago. They are trying to raise $1,500 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
"It feels kind of good knowing that people who don't have diabetes and don't really understand it would want to raise money for it," said Jacob, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 4.
He is hoping to reach a larger audience in June, when he travels to Washington, D.C., as part of the diabetes foundation's Children's Congress.
More than 1,500 children ages 4 to 17 from across the country applied to participate in the congress and 150 were selected. Representatives include Jacob and six others from Florida from elementary through high school. It has taken place every other year since 1999.
Participants will meet with members of Congress and attend a Senate hearing to talk about their experiences with diabetes and urge more funding for research to find a cure. The foundation covers costs for the child delegates and one chaperone.
Jacob had to fill out an application and write a letter to Congressman Gus Bilirakis to qualify.
"I said how hard it is to live with diabetes and how important it is for Congress to keep raising money for it and how hard it is to play sports with it," Jacob said.
An avid athlete, Jacob plays baseball with Keystone Little League and also enjoys football, basketball and golf. He has worn an insulin pump since kindergarten, his mother said, and must check his blood sugar daily. It doesn't interfere with his activities, Dori Rivers said, but he has to be careful.
Jacob said he can tell when something is wrong because he will get thirsty and his head will hurt. He might have trouble focusing on the game, he said, or have to sit down and eat or drink something.
Since his diagnosis, Jacob and his family have become involved in the Tampa Bay chapter of the juvenile diabetes foundation. His father, Tim, serves on the board and is the incoming president. Dori Rivers is on the communications committee. Both plan to accompany Jacob to Washington.
"Neither one of us wanted to miss it," Dori Rivers said.
The Hammond walk tied in nicely to the foundation's work and the Children's Congress. It came just days before the Tampa Walk to Cure, held Saturday at the St. Pete Times Forum. Congress delegates also are asked to raise diabetes awareness in their community, Rivers said, and Hammond's help accomplishes that.
Rivers had hoped the school could raise $1,000 and was pleased to see students meet that goal before the walk began.
"The kids have been great," she said.
