This past week, we were honored to celebrate the incredible fundraising efforts of our Walk teams in Pittsburgh and Westmoreland throughout this year’s Walk season!

The Pittsburgh Walk Awards were held at Dave & Buster’s at the Waterfront and the Westmoreland Walk Awards were held at Ferrante’s Lakeview in Greensburg. Teams enjoyed dinner, awards, and games as we celebrated all things Walk! Each team in attendance raised $1,500 or more and were recognized on stage with their own special song and tons of cheers – it was such a fun night!

We’d like to thank ALL of our Walk teams for a remarkable job this year. We truly couldn’t do what we do without you, and we’re already looking forward to a great 2020 Walk season as we step closer towards that cure. Congratulations to all of our award winners!

Pittsburgh One Walk Award Winners

Volunteer of the Year: Brett Hartshorn
Brett leads ALL volunteers on Walk Day! He helped recruit over 100 Pittsburgh Walk volunteers and made Walk Day run so smoothly. He has won this award now TWO years in a row!

Extra Effort Award: All in for Addi
All in for Addi was a brand new team at Walk this year and raised $7,882. They didn’t stop there – they also put together an amazing fundraiser at their school, Artman Elementary, that raised with a $10,000!

Fun in Fundraising Award: Brody & Kendall’s Crew
Brody & Kendall’s Crew once again held their awesome ‘Take Aim at T1D’ gun and purse raffle fundraiser and $31,190 total this year!

Dedication Award: Merovich Marchers
Tiffany Merovich-Winter has been walking with JDRF for an incredible 25+ years. She is always so enthusiastic and pours her heart and soul into her Walk team each year with fundraising and spreading JDRF’s mission!

Rookie of the Year: Team Mason
Team Mason walked for the very first time and pulled out all of the stops. Together with many fundraisers and messages to family and friends, they raised over $12,000!

Top Corporate Team: Allegheny Health Network
AHN banded together to turn type one into type none and had 10 total teams as an organization! Together, they contributed over $32,000 to this year’s Walk!

Top Family Team: B’s Believers
B’s Believers once again topped our charts and raised over $35,000! 
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Westmoreland One Walk Award Winners

Rookie of the Year: Team Diehm
This team walked for the very first time and from the start was so energized! Their whole family came to the One Walk Kickoff and were really inspired, so they held an awesome bowling fundraiser, asked family and friends, received a corporate match, and raised $4,075!

Extra Effort Award: Eli’s Hillbilly Walkers
Eli’s Hillbilly Walkers have been walking for over 3 years and pulled out all the fundraising stops in 2019! From asking their family and friends to securing five businesses to sponsor their team, they really did it all and raised $4,233, marking their highest total in team history!

Dedication Award: Triple Triumph
Formerly known as Double Hope to represent Kevin, diagnosed at age 40 and Shane, diagnosed at age 3, when Addison was diagnosed at age 5, they rallied around all three of their T1D Champions and even changed their team name to Triple Triumph to reflect it. This year was their 16TH Walk! They’ve raised over $26,000 in team history and truly represent what it means to be passionate, stay the course through adversity, and advocate for a cure!

Fun in Fundraising Award: Team Peyton & Lauren Type 1 Terminators
Team Peyton & Lauren came back strong for their second year at Walk with hosting their first ever “Gala to Benefit JDRF”, which raised $12,000! They raised $15,000 total this year, more than DOUBLING their total from last year!

Top Corporate Team: Team Energy Swing
Every year Steve Rennekamp and Team Energy Swing asks family and friends for support by writing letters and sharing their story. They topped the charts this year for our top corporate team with $13,200 raised!

Top Family Team: Addison’s Brigade
Addison’s Brigade is involved with everything JDRF, from Walk and Gala to Golf and our Youth Ambassador Group. They topped our charts in Westmoreland this year and raised $16,000!

Top Overall Team: Jack’s Dynamite
The Shearer’s and Jack’s Dynamite have raised an incredible $143,000 for JDRF in team history. They are involved in every aspect of JDRF Western PA and this year, they topped all teams and raised over $24,000!