QUALCOMM Incorporated has been a long time supporter of JDRF and last year was no exception. Steve Altman, President of QUALCOMM and Corporate Chair for the 2005 Walk to Cure Diabetes, motivated his team of more than 150 walkers to raise over $68,000 for JDRF, in addition to QUALCOMM's presenting sponsorship. Quite an accomplishment! At this year's Team Captain Kickoff Luncheon Norm Fjeldheim, Senior VP and Chief Information Officer at QUALCOMM Incorporated, committed to sponsoring again and surpassing last year's total! We are glad to have the QUALCOMM team back again this year!

Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a long-time supporter of JDRF and a participant in the Youth Ambassador Program. Along with the company providing a Platinum Sponsorship, Daniel Bradbury, President and Chief Operating Officer, is the Corporate Chairman for the 2006 Walk to Cure Diabetes. Employees are busy planning an array of activities to raise money, including soliciting vendors for sponsorship and putting vendor logos on the back of the Team Amylin walk T-shirts. Other events include a bake/book/DVD/CD sale, and back by POPULAR DEMAND is the silent auction. Paper sneakers, JDRF bracelets, and sneaker key chains will be sold in Amylin's five reception lobbies. Although Amylin is a San Diego-based company, they have encouraged all of their field employees throughout the country to participate in their local JDRF walks. GO TEAM AMYLIN! Thank you for being a great corporate friend!

The 2006 Walk to Cure Diabetes Gold Sponsor, Sony Electronics is returning this year with some great ideas for their Corporate walk team. After brainstorming at their Internal Kick-off, Sony is energized and ready to go! To encourage employees to sign-up for the Walk and collect dollars, the Sony Team developed some great incentives for employees:

Sony will raffle off a 50" TV for registered walkers on their team!
The highest fundraiser will get $300 for the Sony Family Store!
The Team Captain that recruits the most walkers (walker to Sony= anyone that raises $50 or more) will get a paid day off!

In addition to these great ideas, Sony will place Walk to Cure Diabetes banners and posters around their building and will set up Walk information tables and give small incentive prizes (like cookies) to people who sign-up. Sony has a team goal of $13,000 and 75 walkers.

The SONY Team has already designed their team t-shirt for the walk. This year they are ÒNavigating the Way to a Cure!Ó, and all team shirts will feature their latest Nav-U product (SonyÕs new Portable Navigation System). What a great idea! Keep up the good work, Sony!

Coca-Cola Bottling Company is back again for its 3rd year in support of JDRFÐ San Diego. With the leadership of Ken Ramirez, Cesar Avalos, and Adele Mann, Coca-Cola has already committed to 10 team captains, one from each department within the company. Each team captain will then go out and recruit employees within their respective divisions. Coca-Cola held an internal kick-off to inspire the team captains and received lots of walk materials, brochures and posters to help promote the Walk to Cure Diabetes throughout the plant.

At the Coca-Cola Branch in El Centro, Adele and her team are excited to be involved. They have sneakers, posters, brochures and balloons to promote the walk and are monitoring their fundraising success on a big thermometer. We hear there is competition brewing between the Coca-Cola branches around San Diego, so stay tuned for more information!

In addition to their walk team, Coca-Cola also made a generous in-kind donation of over 300 cases of water, Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, and juice to be available to our walkers on walk day!

The law firm Cooley Godward LLP is back again, participating in the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes for its second year in a row! In addition to their Silver Sponsorship, they are planning another stellar walk team-Cooley Godward Coolios. Led by Team Captain, Heather Milne-Barger, and staff involvement from Heather Slavey, Joe Leventhal and others, the Cooley Godward Coolios have established a team goal of $4,800 and have already recruited 18 walkers! Heather and her crew have some great ideas to bolster their walk team dollars. During an internal kickoff, over 12 staff members attended as they bounced around fundraising ideas, had lunch, viewed a walk video, and met the father of their team Youth Ambassador, three year old Calvin Anderson. Pictures of Calvin will be posted throughout the office and next to their goal thermometer as a motivator and reminder for others to join the team and help raise money to find a cure for diabetes, the disease that Calvin suffers from. They will continue to send internal emails to recruit walkers and update the team on their progress. Cooley Godward is planning to host a company bake sale on October 4th, where employees are encouraged to bring in baked goods, which will in turn be sold by the piece or slice. Profits will go toward their walk team revenue. Other ideas included extending the sale into lunch time and having pizza which could be sold for $1 a slice. The team is also considering selling JDRF bracelets or sneakers in their lobby. But that's not all! Cooley Godward Coolios are on top of their game and have already selected their team t-shirt design for the walk. The design was created by an employee's daughter during a "Bring Your Kid To Work Day". Joe Leventhal, an attorney with Cooley Godward and JDRF walker, received a Golden Sneaker Award in 2005 for raising over $1,400 individually! Joe's advice: Don't be afraid to add someone to your email list for donations. He was surprised at the response he received from "acquaintances" whom he was hesitant to include on his mailing list. Ask people to just donate small amounts like $5 or $10; it will be harder for them to say no and most often they will give more! Also add a link to your walk page at the bottom of your email signature in Outlook. It is a quick and easy way for people to get involved. Great ideas, Cooley Godward! Thanks for your continued support! We look forward to seeing you all on Walk Day!

New to the Walk to Cure Diabetes, USE Credit Union held a staff meeting with all employees last week where team leads Gaby Alvarez and Deanna Baldrich were able to take 5 minutes to talk about JDRF, and the Walk to Cure Diabetes. After the presentation, USE confirmed their partnership with JDRF by stepping up as a Family Fun Sponsor, committing to sneaker sales at participating branches and having a Walk team!

At branches around San Diego county, many managers have been creative and organized internal contests. For example, they have divided their employees into teams and each team was given a sneaker color. The day before the Walk the team who has sold the most sneakers will be given a prize. For their northern branches in the Bay Area, USE Credit Union is encouraging online donations to support fellow employees meet their goals. At staff meetings in the next couple of weeks USE will play a the JDRF walk video as a reminder to staff.

At the corporate level, an internal communication was sent via email to employees explaining how to register for the Walk and they are giving everyone who walks a Team USE t-shirt to wear the day of the event. Internally they are also doing sneaker and bracelet donations, and they already see some cubicles and doors decorated with sneakers! USE Credit Union will advertise the Walk to all their members in their October monthly newsletter, inviting all to join USE in their fundraising efforts.

Not only that, but the USE branch at the UCSD campus is helping us out tremendously on the day of the Walk. Big thanks to UCSD branch manager, Joanne! Additionally, you may see the USE penguin walking about amongst the crowd at the Walk on October 15 Ð keep your eyes open! Great Job, USE Credit Union. Thank you for your support!

The Thompson Family has been teaming up with their community to have an outstanding walk team this year. Their family team, Bear Tracks, has decided to focus on their tribal connections to the Barona Band of Mission Indians. LeLanie Thompson sent their family letter to friends and family within the community and received over $900 in donations! LeLanie says she is, "amazed and thankful for the response we have received from the tribal community".

In addition to the great tribal support, the Bear Tracks team organized a bake sale and set-up a table on a corner in their neighborhood and raised $1,500! The baked goods were donated by family members and all money went to the Bear Tracks walk team! LeLanie said more walkers have joined their team as a result of the bake sale including about 20 people from the Barona Baptist Church.

Barona Band of Mission Indians Tribe is a silver sponsor at the Walk this year and the casino is looking to have 45 walkers between employees and guests. Barona will be making their own team t-shirts for walk day. We are very excited to have Barona and Bear Tracks join us this year; thank you for your support!