Blog - Welcome to CC09

Dear Delegates and Parents,

Welcome to Children's Congress 2009.  I am honored and excited to be chairing the sixth Children's Congress with my 16-year-old son, Albert.  It has been a decade since a little boy named Tommy Solo came up with the idea for this event while listening to a group of adults prepare for a meeting with their Members of Congress. He very astutely believed then that Congress should hear from the kids directly about living with type 1 diabetes and why it was important that a cure be found.  In the 10 years since then, Children's Congress has provided the opportunity for hundreds of children and their parents to take the message of finding a cure to Capitol Hill.

Children's Congress is an important gathering for those affected by type 1 diabetes.  Here, we as parents and children can more clearly appreciate and understand the importance of advocating for a cure and the critical role our government must play in helping us reach our goal of finding a cure faster.

As Albert stated in his blog, it is important that we work with our Members of Congress, to inform them about the importance of finding a cure.  Albert and I found visiting with our Members of Congress to be a very powerful and enabling experience.  Who better than those who experience life with diabetes every day to go to Washington and make the very compelling case for the necessity for a cure?  The passion we all feel about this issue only builds when given the amazing opportunity to make our case to the lawmakers in Washington.  Trust me when I tell you that when we all speak with one voice, they will listen!

A perfect example of the results that working together can bring about is our recent success in having a legislative provision known as the Special Diabetes Program extended.  Since December of 2006, Congress has allotted a total of $450 million to the NIH for research specific to type 1 diabetes.

I sincerely look forward to working with each of you over the next several months as we prepare to take our message of a CURE to Capitol Hill!  If you have a question or need additional information about anything, just leave me a comment and I will get back to you!  I look forward to meeting everyone of you.

Thanks!

Cynthia Ford

Hey Everyone!

My name is Albert and I am from Detroit, Michigan. I will be chairing Children’s Congress 2009 with my mother, Cynthia. I wanted to first and foremost welcome you to our website. Here you can find useful information that can help us to interact through forums and blog comments.  So, if you have any questions or comments, please be sure to leave them.

When I first came to Children’s Congress in 2005 I was anxious about meeting 150 other kids whom I had never met before.  But as I quickly found out, it became easier for all of us to get to know one another because we all shared something in common: type 1 diabetes.  All of us were gathered in our nation’s capital to talk to our elected officials about bringing us closer to a cure. It was definitely exciting to be in Washington with kids and parents who were there for the same reasons my mother and I were.

Meeting with our Members of Congress is important because it gives us a chance to tell them about our disease. In the past when I have met with my Members from Michigan I have discussed and explained to them the number of people this disease affects.  I have told them that without government funding, the amount of work and research put towards finding a cure for diabetes could be severely limited.  I have told them my story as you all will tell yours when you see them this summer.  It is important that you explain to them how diabetes plays a role in everything we do, from playing sports to counting carbs while we’re eating.  We have waited long enough and it is time to take action against this disease.

I think that Children’s Congress is a great way for us to tell our representatives and senators first-hand how important it is to find a cure. Please make the most of your Children’s Congress experience – stay in touch with me and other delegates across the country as we prepare for our trip to D.C. in June. I look forward to getting to know all of you.  If you have any questions or comments or just want to start a discussion, don’t hesitate to post on the blog.

Welcome!

Albert Ford