Accident Fund Holdings, Inc. Raises Over $45,000 for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

By FOX 47 News

CREATED Aug. 1, 2012

  • Print

  • Accident Fund CEO Elizabeth Haar and Art Miller, whose head will be shaved after raising $2,370 for the JDRF.

LANSING, MI –Accident Fund Holdings, Inc. is proud to announce it has raised more than $45,000 to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) through a variety of efforts by its employees.

Since its inception in 1970, JDRF has provided more than $1.6 billion for diabetes research. Each year, more than 15,000 children are diagnosed with diabetes in the United States- that’s 40 children a day.

Children with Type 1 diabetes face a lifetime of blood tests, restrictive diets and the constant threat of devastating complications including kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, amputation, heart attack and stroke. It is these sobering facts, as well as personal experience with diabetes, that motivated Accident Fund’s employees to give their all to raising money to benefit JDRF.

Accident Fund employees spent the last 12 weeks working hard to raise money for JDRF using a wide variety of entertaining fundraising tactics. Some of those fundraisers included donating money to wear jeans to work, selling bags of popcorn on Fridays, donating money to wear flip flops to work on one designated Friday, and three employees even set donation goals that, if met, would result in them cutting off all their hair.

The final fundraising effort for this campaign takes place on Saturday, Aug. 4 when more than 100 employees, as well as their friends and family members, will participate in the 2012 East Lansing Walk to Cure Diabetes.

“Participating in this particular fundraising campaign has been a lot of fun for our team,” Liz Haar, CEO of Accident Fund Holdings, Inc. and chairperson for the JDRF 2012 East Lansing Walk to Cure Diabetes, said.

“The activities our employees have participated in have had a direct impact on our fundraising goal while also allowing them to engage with each other in an entertaining way. I am very proud of our employees, as they alone have raised and donated more than $30,000 as well as volunteering to help with fundraising activities.”

The walk will take place on Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012 from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich.

To support JDRF or to learn more about JDRF opportunities, visit www.jdrf.org.

SOURCE: Release
 


This was started by Bobbi Elliott who is on our JDRF committee when she went home to brain storm for ideas to raise $45,000.  She thought buzzing someone’s head was going to get some great attention, but she knew it had to be someone in which everyone knew and who would want to raise the $2,000. 
 
Bobbi approached our Legislative Analyst Art Miller to be that person.  Art is well liked in our company and has the right personality to get the job done.  It didn’t take much convincing since he has a niece Grace Price who courageously fought and beat leukemia several years ago.  As Art says “I love my Goddaughter more than anything and can’t put into words what she had to go through to beat Cancer.  After seeing her years ago lose all of her hair I knew this buzz for JDRF was no sweat!” 
 
He sent out emails to his friends and family encouraging them to make donations to JDRF.  He explained he is doing this in coordination with AFHI in order to raise funds to improve the lives of all people affected by type 1 diabetes.  He chose to support JDRF because of their unwavering commitment to find a cure for type 1 diabetes (T1D) – a disease which strikes children suddenly, makes them insulin dependent for life, and carries the constant threat of devastating complications including kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, amputation, heart attack and stroke. 
 
Accident Fund Holdings created a “Get Art Buzzed” page on the JDRF site and encouraged all employees to donate so Art would have to buzz his head.  Accident Fund Holdings even put out jugs on every floor so employees could put money in as they walked by. 
 
Art reached his goal and surpassed it for a total of $2,370.  He will be joined by his family including his niece and Goddaughter Grace Price.  She is taking the 1st swipe.  Art saw this as a way to lead by example, motivate others to contribute and support a great cause just like his Niece did.

See the photos of Art Miller getting his hair buzzed:

 

 

Art Miller pre-shave with Elizabeth Haar, CEO of Accident Fund Holdings, Inc.