Bryan County Elementary School recently participated in its first walk-a-thon to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

The fundraiser started with an assembly orchestrated by April Case, representative from JDRF Georgia headquarters in Atlanta. She educated the kids about Type 1 diabetes (also known as juvenile diabetes) and presented a short video. Afterward, there was a question-and-answer session that focused on Luke Eynon, a third-grader at BCES who has Type 1 diabetes. He informed his fellow schoolmates about growing up with T1D.

The students then spent two weeks preparing for the walk by selling paper “sneakers” representing the “Walk for a Cure.” The students raised more than $1,800.

Jen Eynon, Luke’s mother, said one of the many things JDRF does with money from fundraisers is make bags of goodies for children newly diagnosed with T1D. The bags contain items like a teddy bear that wears an insulin pump.