Each year at the annual JDRF Hope Gala, the Living & Giving Award is presented to individuals or organizations who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to JDRF. The 2016 Honoree, Chara Schreyer, was selected for her extraordinary support of type 1 diabetes (T1D) research. More than thirty years ago, Chara’s daughter Justine was diagnosed with T1D at the age of four. Since then, Chara has been dedicated to accelerating the pace of life-changing research for all those affected by T1D.

Ardy Johnson, 2016 Hope Gala Co-Chair, has known Chara for years. “I was new to the Greater Bay Area and Chara was one of the first people I met and the connection was JDRF. While we had fun we also did some good work in getting the chapter off the ground. We held the chapter’s first Walk and first Gala,” she says.

“What I admire most about Chara is her steadfast determination to help find a cure, which has been demonstrated over the last 30 years and will not only impact her daughter but also my son…plus many, many, others,” says Ardy Johnson, 2016 Hope Gala Co-Chair.

Chara is president of Kadima Foundation which also contributes to JDRF and funded the Justine K. Schreyer Endowed Chair in Diabetes Research at the UCSF Diabetes Center & the Justine Kathryn Schreyer Diabetes Clinical Center at UCSF. She is a board member of the UCSF Foundation and is a founding member of the JDRF Greater Bay Area Chapter.

JDRF is pleased to honor Chara Schreyer at the Hope Gala on May 21 at The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco. “I, and other JDRF supporters, know of her good work, but I am pleased to be able to publicly acknowledge her and thank her,” says Ardy.