Thank You!

Wow! What an amazing and inspiring Dream Gala. Thank you again to everyone who joined us, placed bids, purchased raffle tickets and made a Fund A Cure gift. Because of you, we get closer to cures.

Thanks to your generosity, we are thrilled to announce that, so far, we’ve raised $2.1 million to support life-changing type 1 diabetes research! We are so grateful to have such a supportive community and together, we can create a world without T1D.

On Saturday, the Iken Family shared their personal story of life with T1D. Thank you Corey, Michelle, Seth and Ryan for your unwavering dedication to creating a world without type 1 diabetes and for sharing your inspirational story. If you missed the Ikens’ story or would like to share their message, you can watch it here.

You can still make a Fund A Cure gift to support life-changing research that directly impacts families living with T1D, like the Ikens.

Thank you to all our community leaders and volunteers who made Saturday such a successful evening.

Thank you to our Dream Gala leaders, including:

Cathy Baier, Steering Committee Chair and Fund A Cure Committee Co-Chair

Emily Rapp, Fund A Cure Committee Co-Chair

Kathy Berwanger, Auction Committee Co-Chair

Pat Johnston, Auction Committee Co-Chair

Elizabeth Kurowski, Auction Committee Co-Chair

Matt Copeland, Corporate Development Committee Co-Chair

Caleb Herbst, Corporate Development Committee Co-Chair

Joseph Hyde, Corporate Development Committee Co-Chair

Thank you to the Kansas City Community Board of Directors and the St. Louis Community Board of Directors for your continued dedication to JDRF’s mission.

And finally, thank you to our two outstanding emcees, Elizabeth Moots and Landon Beard. These T1D champions brought smiles and energy to the Virtual Dream Gala!

For a full list of our Gala leadership team, check out the 2021 Virtual Dream Gala Program.

The 2021 JDRF Dream Gala Ambassadors, ages 5 to 20, worked tirelessly to make the Gala a success – from creating fun thank you videos for our incredible sponsors, to putting together a meaningful Spotify playlist, to sharing their stories with friends and family. Every ambassador shared their story of life with T1D and the importance of funding research with an original group fundraising goal of $6,000. This year’s ambassadors went above and beyond and raised more than $12,000! We are so proud of this amazing group for their hard work and creativity. Thank you to all of our Youth Ambassadors and their families for bringing us closer to cures.

Thank you to all our Hosts of Hope who held some amazing watch parties on Saturday. Your leadership and enthusiasm helped bring our communities together for the Dream Gala. You can check out some of the fun photos from these watch parties and other supporters on our Facebook page.

JDRF is always appreciative and proud of the support from our corporate partners and their continued commitment to our mission. Thank you to our partners in the business communities across our chapter whose dedication makes a difference in the lives of their employees and millions of people impacted by T1D!