Join Team Diabetes Canada

The following is a guest post from our friend Buzz Bishop, publisher of DadCAMP.

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Many of us only become active in charities when they directly affect our lives. Our kids have autism, we wear the blue puzzle pin. Our grandmother has breast cancer, and our world becomes pink. Some charities, however, go beyond and reach out to those without personal motives. The red ribbon of the AIDS movement and Lance Armstrong‘s Livestrong bracelets are examples of awareness becoming almost fashionable.

When I joined Team Diabetes in 2003, I had no direct link to the cause. I had no friends or family with the disease. I joined for purely selfish reasons: I wanted to go to Iceland.

Once I was part of the cause, I realized I had a chance to make a difference. As a member of the media, I have opportunities to not only win money for charities, but to use my voice as a louder than average tool to raise awareness. We all know that Bob Barker is behind people getting their pets spayed or neutered, I wanted to be the guy known for getting people to take their health seriously.

So diabetes it is. One third of us are facing diabetes or pre-diabetes. A third. Look around the members of your family. If you’re married with a child that means at least one of you will face a diabetes diagnosis.

Type 1 diabetes just strikes. Suddenly, your pancreas can’t work to help balance blood sugar in your body. You never know when it will happen. It just does. Type 2 diabetes is something a little more preventable. Stay active, eat right, and you can keep things on track. So I am on Team Diabetes to run marathons and half marathons around the world to keep a goal on my calendar, and to keep myself on track.

Running the races is just part of it. To participate, I fundraise and spread awareness about Team Diabetes. I do that by blogging for charity.

When I chose to start taking on brand partnerships for DadCAMP in 2013, I did it in exchange for donations to Team Diabetes Canada. I write about the brand, they make a charity donation. In that year I’ve managed to raise more than $15 000. Win/win.

I’d love it if you would join Team Diabetes and spread awareness and raise money. You can do it at TeamDiabetes.ca. If that’s not your thing, you can support my fundraising at buzzbishop.com/teamd.