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JDRF Hope Gala Honors Supporters Including Philanthropist Arlene Schnitzer

Merrie Kay Alzola (Board President) with Arlene Schnitzer and Jordan Schnitzer (2019 Hope Gala Living and Giving Award Recipients) and Judy Summers (Executive Director)

Portland, OR. The 24^th JDRF Hope Gala honored Arlene Schnitzer and Jordan Schnitzer with a “Living and Giving” Award. Board President Merrie Kay Alzola helped honor Arlene and her son Jordan as JDRF Executive Director Judy Summers assisted. The ballroom of the Sentinel Hotel was filled with 450 supporters for the May 4th benefit. Families affected by Type 1 diabetes say they hope to turn “type one” into type none. The over $640,000 raised at the gala for JDRF was record-setting for the nonprofit. JDRF is the leading global organization funding type 1 diabetes (T1D) research.

Lisa Tran and KPTV Celebrity Emcee Elizabeth Dinh

Friends of JDRF raised their bid cards high.

Hope Gala Chairs, Suzanne and Larry Mackin

Youth Ambassadors thank supporters for their help

From JDRF:

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that strikes both children and adults suddenly. It has nothing to do with diet or lifestyle. There is nothing you can do to prevent it. And, at present, there is no cure.

In T1D, your pancreas stops producing insulin—a hormone the body needs to get energy from food. This means a process your body does naturally and automatically becomes something that now requires your daily attention and manual intervention. If you have T1D, you must constantly monitor your blood-sugar level, inject or infuse insulin through a pump, and carefully balance these insulin doses with your eating and activity throughout the day and night.

However, insulin is not a cure for diabetes. Even with the most vigilant disease management, a significant portion of your day will be spent with either high or low blood-sugar levels. These fluctuations place people with T1D at risk for potentially life-threatening hypoglycemic and hyperglycemic episodes as well as devastating long-term complications such as kidney failure, heart attack, stroke, blindness and amputation.

JDRF is the leading global organization funding type 1 diabetes (T1D) research. Our strength lies in our exclusive focus and singular influence on the worldwide effort to end T1D.

Vision: A world without type 1 diabetes

Mission: Improving lives today and tomorrow by accelerating life-changing breakthroughs to cure, prevent and treat T1D and its complications

www.jdrf.org/oregon

Elisa Klein

I’ve been a professional journalist and writer since 1987, (and long-time reporter for KOIN-TV.) As a nationally published reporter, with a Master’s Degree in Journalism, I love to report positive news and information. Journalism has also connected me with another non-profit where I served as a leader; the Northwest’s biggest writer’s organization: The Willamette Writers.