Breakthrough T1D

Breakthrough T1D is the leading global type 1 diabetes research and advocacy organization. For more than fifty years, most of them under our former name JDRF, we have funded the science that changed what a type 1 diagnosis means: continuous glucose monitors, insulin pumps, automated insulin delivery, and now therapies that can delay the onset of the disease itself. The Kansas Chapter brings that work home. We are a small staff supported by a much larger group of volunteers, and our Wichita event committee is made up almost entirely of local families living with type 1 diabetes. The people planning our Walk are the same people counting carbohydrates at dinner and checking a blood sugar at two in the morning. Your volunteering will be local, but your impact outsize!

We fund research. Breakthrough T1D directs funding into type 1 diabetes research worldwide, and money raised here in Kansas goes into that same effort. We advocate. We work with state and federal lawmakers on the things that decide whether a family can actually afford to manage this disease: insulin pricing, insurance coverage for devices, and continued federal funding for type 1 research. We show up locally, and this is the part volunteers see. We run the Breakthrough T1D Wichita Walk every September, connect newly diagnosed families with people who have lived with type 1 for years, host community education events, and run programs for children, teenagers and adults across the region. Our signature Wichita event is the Community Walk at Wichita State University. This year it is Saturday, September 19, 2026, with more than forty teams and 165 walkers already registered. We hope to see you there as a volunteer!