#iCan Get Involved!

This diabetes week has been all about the positive message of #iCan or what #iCan do in-spite of having diabetes. I’ve done my best to try and share my stories with you about the times concerning diabetes, when I thought or other people thought that I couldn’t do something. In the hope that you’ll feel more positive about the condition if you have diabetes and are reading this yourself. Or if you have a loved one with the condition I hope that my stories have helped you feel a little more hopeful towards their future.

There aren’t many feelings as good as inspiring others to feel empowered to achieve themselves. And Diabetes UK are offering the opportunity this coming weekend, to not only raise awareness of diabetes but speak to and inspire others to give money towards the cause. A vaccine against the type 1 version of the disease diabetes is currently being created and money raised will go towards making this vaccine available to many people. This coming weekend of the 13^th-15^th June 2014 is the next Diabetes UK and Tesco partnership Big Collection. It’s a fantastic and worthwhile event where volunteers of any age are asked to go along and shake a bucket amongst shoppers in order to raise money. You can get your friends and family involved and take it in turns to speak to shoppers, raising awareness of diabetes and asking them to donate to the great cause.

Last year’s Big Collection, which was held at over 300 of the big Tesco supermarket stores across the UK managed to raise £382,000! Which I believe was the biggest single collection drive Diabetes UK has ever achieved. The partnership itself began back last year when Diabetes UK was chosen as the Tesco charity partner for 2013/14. The aim was to raise awareness of the condition and aim to raise a couple of million pounds. The Tesco staff and shoppers have shared their time, money and enthusiasm in spades and at last count I believe that the partnership had raised over £10 million! Amazing!

Although Tesco take a charity partner every year, I feel that every time that I’ve visited one of their stores, that diabetes awareness has been high on their list of priorities. Whether it’s through their beautiful community board displays, their information points throughout the store with leaflets available to take home or the charity box on each counter. I’ve felt so touched every time I empty my spare change into the charity box when the person serving me has said thank you. If there wasn’t a queue behind me, what I really want to say is ‘no, thank you for raising all of this money and awareness on my behalf for the condition that I’m living with’. It brought tears to my eyes at the Diabetes UK Cymru awards at the start of the year, when we were introduced to a lady who worked for Tesco in West Wales. She’d had her head shaved to raise money for diabetes, such a kind kind thing to do.

So come and be part of the BIG Collection and make a BIG difference to the lives of people with diabetes today! #iCan!