After perusing the JDRF website, I registered as a team captain and then proceeded to spend several days brainstorming a great team name with my boyfriend. I was adamant that it be something clever - a great pun, a palindrome, or a "sweet" play on words. I honestly stared at the diabetes supply shelf in my closet aimlessly trying to find rhymes for words like Novolog and hypoglycemia. After far too much discussion, we finally settled on team "Lance-A-Lot" (Get it?)

As difficult as it was picking out a team name, the hardest thing about diabetes walks is actually buckling down to do the fundraising. I want a cure for this thing as much as any other diabetic, but I'm also a poor recent college grad with a lot of poor college student friends. Here are a few tips that I've come across that can help to boost your team's funds:

• Set up a team fundraising webpage. Both ADA and JDRF provide a webpage for you when you sign up as a team. Use it! Send the link to your friends and relatives.
• Send out a group email to your local friends explaining to them how to donate and inviting them to walk with your team.
• Utilize the power of social networking sites. If you're on teen talk, you're at least a little cyber savvy. Post something on MySpace or make a Facebook event and link it to your team's online webpage so people can donate with just a click.
• Have your friends recruit their friends. Use your friends to spread the word and bring their own friends to join your team.
• Be creative! Set out a plate of cookies at work or during some other event with a box for donations asking people to donate if they take a cookie (one of my coworkers has been doing this with great success). Perhaps this is an ironic way to raise funds for the diabetes walk, but a good idea nevertheless.

It's surprising, but lots of little donations can really add up. It's amazing how many people are affected by diabetes in some way and willing to donate to a great cause.

After diligently fundraising and putting together a fabulous group of friends, you're ready to go! By the time you actually get to the walk, it's great! There are venders with the latest sugar-free goodies and coupons for free meters. Looking out into the crowd, I find myself thinking: "Ooh look he's wearing a pump. Is that a roll of glucose tabs? Did I just see someone test?" For someone like me who never went to diabetes camp and only knows a smattering of other diabetics, seeing this stuff is reassuring and really helps me to connect with the diabetes community. I know I'm not the only person dealing with diabetes, but seeing others do diabetes "tasks" certainly makes me feel less isolated.

Team Lance-A-Lot will be walking on May 6th. Both the ADA and JDRF sponsor hundreds of walks through out the summer and fall across the nation. Consider amassing a group of your friends and family to support finding a cure. Happy walking season!