We are Team Aviture! And we want a cure!

We started a corporate walk team in 2013 as we saw that our work family was also behind us in being a supporter of JDRF, and many wanted to participate in the annual walk as well.

Aviture’s President and CEO (and my husband), Mark Griffis, often shared our personal story with Type 1 diabetes at various times throughout each year, and many of our close work friends also saw first hand what we went through when I was diagnosed with T1D one year after the birth of our first child. It was new to me, to our family, and to many of our friends and co-workers. Aviture employees and friends of Aviture showed their ongoing support for our family by supporting JDRF, and then by really making the annual walk event a fun company event to look forward to each year.

Aviture employees go above and beyond their job expectations to help others, and help create a culture that breeds learning and sharing of experiences to encourage growth and success. They are also a very compassionate and giving group of people, who also bring to light other causes in our local communities that we support during the year.

This type of culture can be seen in how we fund-raise for the JDRF One Walk.
Not only do many employees and their families give very generous self donations and team donations, but they also come up their own ideas for fundraising events and take the initiative to organize everything for the event. Team Aviture’s Walk Team success truly is a group effort. The events cater to different interests, so there’s something for everyone to enjoy while knowing they are supporting JDRF in continuing critical research, to help provide better therapies for those living with Type 1 and ultimately a cure.

Some of the past and current fundraising events include:
Poker Night
Disc Golf Outing
Bake Sale (some of the employees are actually trained chefs :))
Raffles
Ice Skating family event
Paintball event

Aviture will offer some fundraising incentives to kickoff the walk campaign, and reward its top fundraisers with unique prizes so there is always a little friendly competition among the employees as walk day approaches. To many of the employees, JDRF is also very near and dear to their hearts now because they know what the organization is doing for those living with Type 1. As research advances into human trials for areas such as the artificial pancreas and encapsulation, funding is so important to push these efforts along. Our Team does a good job sharing why they participate in the walk and encouraging others to donate to Team Aviture to help achieve its fundraising goal.

Some tips on being a successful team include getting people to register and share information about the walk event, whether it be in emails or on social media. Find out what your team members’ interests are to come up with some fundraising events that friends and family will enjoy participating in, all while knowing they are supporting JDRF in turning Type One into Type None!

— Lynn Griffis

Join Team Aviture on Saturday, August 20th for the JDRF One Walk, walk.jdrf.org/omaha.