Children’s Congress 2013 Welcome Message from The Platts, CC2013 Chair Family

Dear Children’s Congress Delegates and Families:

Congratulations and welcome to JDRF 2013 Children’s Congress! We all share in your honor in serving as delegates for this remarkable and unique event. You are the 160 delegates who have been selected to represent the millions of people who are living with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

This July, we will congregate in the capital of the United States, Washington, D.C., to advocate better treatments, prevention, and ultimately a cure for T1D. It is your duty as delegates to put a human face on this devastating disease and tell your stories to our elected officials. Empowered as a group, we will help them understand the burden of living with T1D and advocate their continued support to ensure crucial funding for T1D research. As the mother of Jonathan, my son who has T1D, I can tell you that our advocacy is essential for his future, your future, and the future of the T1D community worldwide.

The primary role of JDRF Children’s Congress delegates is a powerful one— to deliver our important messages to our country’s leaders. Equally important, however, is your experience building relationships and forming friendships with your fellow delegates and their families.

Prepare to be transformed by your Children’s Congress experience! Living as a family through a diagnosis of T1D, handling the daily management of the disease, coping with fears, struggles, and triumphs—these are experiences that each delegate family knows firsthand. I encourage you to get to know as many families as possible during our short time together. You each have an amazing story to share. Trust me, I know—I read all of your applications! You are an outstanding group of delegates, and although you share T1D, you are truly unique individuals and families. You are JDRF’s Children’s Congress!

Our family has lived with T1D since Jonathan’s diagnosis more than three years ago. As a family, we all manage the disease. However, it is Jonathan
who truly lives with the disease. Jonathan has dealt with T1D like a champion—he rarely complains and always hopes that one day he will be free of its burden. Jonathan is our inspiration and the reason we tirelessly fight to bring awareness and continued funding for research to lead us to better treatments and the ultimate cure. I know that you and your families have similar stories, inspiration, and aspiration. The stage has been set for your stories to
be told and heard to ensure that our leaders understand what it is like to live with T1D.

We are grateful to JDRF, especially the Government Relations team and many other volunteers and staff, for making Children’s Congress possible. As delegates, you are part of an advocacy powerhouse that is second to none. JDRF advocates work tirelessly all year to deliver our messages and reach our legislators and public officials. I am particularly delighted to have Camille Nash—JDRF’s national volunteer leader for advocacy, mother of a child with T1D, and one of the most enthusiastic and effective advocates we have—as my Children’s Congress co-chair. Thank you Camille!

Have a wonderful and memorable time. Speaking passionately on your own behalf with your legislators is an incredible experience, and doing it together as representatives of JDRF Children’s Congress makes a powerful impression. The significance of the job you will do in Washington, D.C., and the impact you will make will change you forever. Use that motivation to continue our mission at home. Encourage your family and friends to visit advocacy-jdrf-org.jdrfccprod.wpengine.com to join you in your efforts to achieve a world without T1D.

Together, our efforts will triumph!

Angie, Jon, and Jonathan Platt
Chair Family, JDRF 2013 Children’s Congress