Yamaha Cares Marathon Runners Have Raised Almost $25,000 for Children’s Hospital of Orange County

Team Yamaha 2011

BUENA PARK, Calif.—For the third year in a row, Yamaha employees and friends have banded together to help raise funds to combat Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes. This year, 30 runners affiliated with Yamaha participated in the Southern California Half Marathon and 5K runs in Irvine, raising $6,000 to support the Trial Net program at Children’s Hospital of Orange County, one of a small number of hospitals around the country undertaking juvenile diabetes research. So far, Yamaha has raised almost $25,000 earmarked for the research program, which seeks to reveal the disease’s causes, identify preventative measures and ultimately find a cure.

Five years ago, Katrina Jewell, daughter of David Jewell, Marketing Manager, Yamaha Drums, was diagnosed with Type 1 juvenile diabetes. Katrina, now 18, is an outpatient at the hospital as she navigates attending college at the University of California at Santa Cruz and dealing with the disease.

"Every year, more and more people have come out to participate and I think it shows the type of quality employees that we have at Yamaha," said Jewell. "They’ve recruited others, too, so we have people who don’t know Katrina and don’t know anyone who has juvenile diabetes but are willing to participate. It’s very heartening."

The CHOC Diabetes Center is the first pediatric diabetes program in Southern California to be recognized for meeting and maintaining American Diabetes Association (ADA) standards of care guidelines. With a primary goal of identifying family members who are at-risk for contracting Type 1 diabetes, the study is also one of the largest screening sites for the NIH-sponsored Diabetes Prevention Trial-1.

The employees and their friends helped raise the money in conjunction with Yamaha Cares, the charitable arm of the Yamaha Corporation of America, which donated $1,000 for the cause and awarded prizes for the person who raised the most at the marathon. Yamaha Cares is active in fundraising efforts for many other Southern California programs, including the Special Olympics, college music scholarships, The Boys and Girls Club, The Susan G. Komen Foundation, American Cancer Society, March of Dimes, Make a Wish Foundation, Families of Camp Pendelton, Orange County Food Bank and Toys For Tots, to name just a few.

For more information on Yamaha Cares, visit www.yamaha.com/yamahacares, or write Yamaha Corporation of America, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622; telephone (714) 522-9011; or e-mail infostation@yamaha.com.