We closed out fiscal year 2019 with our Annual Meeting on June 26, where we celebrated some of our most dedicated volunteers. These volunteers work tirelessly in a multitude of ways to drive the shared JDRF mission. All of our volunteers are amazing—take a look at this year’s award winners!

Rosalie Maggio Award—Randie and Bobby Harmelin

The Rosalie Maggio Award serves as our chapter’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and it is presented to an individual who emulates Rosalie Maggio’s spirit of volunteerism. Since Rosalie’s passing a few years ago, her daughter, Maria Maggio Marfuggi, has kept the award’s tradition alive, choosing Randie and Bobby Harmelin as this year’s deserving recipient.

Randie and Bobby are 20+ year volunteers with JDRF. Both have served on the chapter’s Board of Directors and currently serve on the chapter’s Board of Chancellors. Randie is currently a volunteer with JDRF’s Online Diabetes Support Team and has served on the chapter’s Leadership Giving Committee as well as the chapter’s Stewardship Chair.

Bobby has leveraged his professional connections to secure significant product donations and make JDRF the beneficiary of a tremendously successful charity wine library event. Randie & Bobby’s One Walk team is the second largest fundraising team in the chapter, and it’s typically the second largest fundraising team in the country!

Volunteer of the Year—Liz Woolley

The Volunteer of the Year Award is presented to an individual volunteer who has provided extraordinary, measurable impact across multiple chapter priority areas.

Through her work with Outreach and One Walk programs, Liz has provided extraordinary and measurable impact across multiple chapter priority areas this past fiscal year. Liz has been an Outreach Volunteer (OV) for over a year and a half and has built strong connections with newly diagnosed families. She is always working to connect families in the Lehigh Valley with JDRF, as well as see how she might be able to support them with guidance, resources, and comfort.

Liz also jumped right in with the 2018 One Walk Allentown committee. Liz was trained as the Family Team Chair, acted as the Event Chair, and played lead roles in sponsorship and stewardship. Last year’s One Walk Allentown met and exceeded the sponsorship goal, and Liz was responsible for a huge part of the committed sponsorship. This event would not have been as successful as it was without Liz’s leadership, dedication, and initiative.

Corporate Partner Award—Publicis Health Media

The Corporate Partner Award is presented to an employer who engages their organization and workforce in supporting JDRF fundraising, mission, and volunteer priorities.

Publicis Health Media (PHM) has been a great JDRF partner since joining the 2017 One Walk Philadelphia event as a corporate sponsor and One Walk team. Led by Jimmy Prasalowicz, Jules Reeser and Brittany Anderson, the PHM corporate team has been able to continue to engage employee involvement, raising over $27,000 in 2018 and giving generously through sponsorship dollars.

In 2018, Vice President of Media, Bill Veltre, took on the role of 2018 One Walk Philadelphia Corporate Chair. Through his personal and professional network, PHM generated more than $47,000 towards the JDRF mission.

The PHM team also held their first successful internal kickoff with over 100 employees to learn more about JDRF, T1D, and how they could support the company’s charitable efforts. The entire company also attended a “Publicis Health Media Phield Day”, raising over $10,000 for JDRF. PHM is an ideal JDRF partner and we look forward to the continued partnership as PHM and JDRF work together to turn Type One into Type None.

Innovation Award—Heather Giacoio and Amy Kirk

The Innovation Award is presented to an individual or group who introduces a new and creative way to achieve the JDRF mission (fundraising, outreach, advocacy, volunteerism), with high impact that aligns with organizational priorities and capacity.

Heather and Amy have been steadfast supporters of JDRF for many years, both having a child with T1D. Not only have they been supporters of the One Walk program and Outreach program, but this past year they took on the role as Co-Chairs of the 2019 TypeOneNation (TON) Summit.

This dynamic duo showed true leadership by developing an energetic and proactive committee, along with their JDRF staff partner, to ensure the vision of the 2019 TON Summit came to fruition. They not only engaged many people, new and existing to JDRF, but they put together a solid plan to ensure that the 2019 TON Summit was an event that would bring the T1D community together for a day of education, networking, and engagement.

Under Heather and Amy’s leadership, the TON Summit had various new and exciting speakers, diverse programming for all ages. They ensured that there was collaboration between volunteers and our healthcare partners to provide programming on T1D and pregnancy. Under Heather and Amy’s leadership, along with the help of their committee, we saw attendance go from 98 people in 2018 to 290 people in 2019! That is a fantastic increase and a true testament to the planning and organization that Heather and Amy, along with their committee, did to ensure this event was a success.

Heather and Amy also continue to be advocates for JDRF, helping to engage and support new families affected by T1D. They are also already hard at work at planning the 2020 TON Summit, as they have committed to staying on board as the 2020 Co-Chairs!

Community Partner Award—The St. Anastasia School

The Community Partner Award is presented to a community organization that furthers the JDRF mission by engaging its membership and community.

Saint Anastasia School in Newtown Square has been an impactful JDRF supporter. They were very successful in engaging their faculty and students for many years within the Kids Walk program, but the most impressive part of St. Anastasia’s involvement with JDRF occurred this past year.

After taking a two-year hiatus, St. Anastasia decided it was time to bring the fundraising and awareness campaign back to support five current students living with T1D, beginning with a school assembly and culminating with a walk a few days later! It was a true partnership between the school’s principal and faculty and the parents of the students (especially Palma Joslin) who used the retired Kids Walk model to implement their own fundraising and awareness campaign that brought in over $6,000 toward the JDRF mission.

During the school assembly, the students living with T1D and their parents hosted an educational session to raise awareness about the disease. St. Anastasia’s not only educated their own faculty and students but also broadcasted to their local community through a press release. Principal Beth Doyle commented in that press release the following: “Type 1 diabetes has had a significant impact on a number of our students at St. Anastasia. We are a supportive community and hosting the Diabetes Awareness Week and Walk provides a great opportunity to come together as a school to help our fellow students.”

St. Anastasia is a true community partner, furthering the JDRF mission by engaging faculty, students and their families as well as their surrounding community.

Passion Award—Suzanne Gallagher

The Passion Award is presented to an individual whose passion for JDRF’s vision of a world without type 1 diabetes is evident in how they represent JDRF in the community, engage others with the organization and instill their passion in those around them.

Suzanne is an OV that is always ready to jump in and help. She volunteered at the JDRF Info, Advocacy and Outreach table at the 2018 One Walk Philadelphia event, and she made a significant impact engaging newly diagnosed families as well as newly trained OVs. She served as a logistic lead on the TypeOneNation (TON) Summit committee, present and engaged at every meeting, sharing ideas and reaching out to constituents and vendors. She even brought her husband and put him to work! She was a tremendous help with area school district outreach, both in the planning stages and as a co-presenter with JDRF staff. Suzanne is thoughtful and deliberate in all that she does to help further JDRF’s outreach mission. We are so lucky to have her!

Passion Award—Lynn Testaiuti

The Passion Award is presented to an individual whose passion for JDRF’s vision of a world without T1D is evident in how he or she represents JDRF in the community, engages others with the organization, and instills his or her passion in others.

Lynn showed tremendous passion as Chair of the 2019 One Promise Gala. She had a vision to incorporate a younger generation into this year’s event, recruiting a young honoree and ensuring that our young adult “After Party” guests were incorporated into the main ballroom, creating a unique and memorable evening program with a diverse age group. She went above and beyond to assist with auction room setup, as well as soliciting auction items and sponsorships. Lynn is living with T1D, and she channeled her incredible efforts through this year’s gala to help JDRF find a cure.

Young Leadership Award—Joe Flannery

The Young Leadership Award is presented to an individual under the age of 40 who has made significant contributions to the JDRF mission.

Joe Flannery is an emerging young leader for JDRF. Within the last year, he became involved in the T1D Connections Program by becoming an Outreach Volunteer, supporting adults recently diagnosed with T1D. He also joined the TON Summit committee and led a subcommittee to engage young adults with JDRF. Under his leadership, the TON subcommittee not only created unique program breakout sessions targeting teens, college age and young adults, but Joe also led the sessions. These breakout sessions were well-attended and very much appreciated by the adult T1D community.

Unsung Hero—Ron and Jane Carter

The Unsung Hero award is presented to an individual who makes a significant contribution to the chapter’s success behind the scenes, without serving in a leadership capacity.

Ron and Jane recently joined JDRF as Outreach Volunteers, and they have already made a significant contribution to the chapter’s success behind the scenes. Not only do they support every newly diagnosed family assigned to them, but they are also a huge help with families in need who are not already on their roster.

Ron and Jane have also been actively engaged in the One Walk program by serving on the 2018 One Walk Northeast PA Committee and volunteering at the JDRF Information/New Families Tent for both the 2018 Allentown and 2019 Northeast PA One Walk events to provide support to families and walkers and build deeper connections. They also volunteered at the 2019 TON Summit, providing any resources and comfort that they could to newly diagnosed families.

Ron and Jane always make sure to connect with their staff partners, especially if there are any additional needs a family has shared with them in order to make sure JDRF is providing those families and adults the proper care they need. Ron and Jane are certainly a power couple who have stepped up and made a true difference within our Outreach program this past year!

Rookie of the Year—Fran and Sid Schwartz

The Rookie of the Year award is presented to an individual who has distinguished him or herself within his or her first 12 months of service to JDRF.

Fran and Sid came to JDRF shortly after their grandson, Michael, was diagnosed T1D. Even though Michael lives across the country in California, they felt compelled to do something to help. They have been a consistent presence as office volunteers for the past year doing tasks such as shredding, writing thank-you notes, and preparing mailings. They also participated in One Walk Philadelphia, raising over $4,500 in their first year. Fran and Sid continue to do all they can to learn more about T1D and support their grandson and the mission of JDRF.

Thank you to all of our amazing volunteers and supporters who helped to make fiscal year 2019 so successful—and to those who commit to making fiscal year 2020 an even greater success!