Excitement is brewing as Mr. Diabetes® reaches completion of his 10,000+ mile Wake Up and Walk ^® Tour of the U.S. perimeter. It will culminate with an extraordinary celebration – THE FLORIDA ORANGE FESTIVAL TM - on December 14 ^th in Sarasota, Florida and another event as the THE WALK™ ends one week later right where it began - in Madeira Beach, Florida – on December 21st!

The Defeat Diabetes Foundation is a nationally registered 501 (c) (3) non-profit charity dedicated to creating awareness, prevention, early identification and self-management of diabetes. Our focus to solving the diabetes epidemic in this country is through prevention with an emphasis on proper medical oversight, nutrition and fitness coupled with an assessment of an individual’s risk factors through early screening. In cases where diabetes cannot be prevented, early detection and proper medical monitoring can greatly reduce the costs and complications associated with this insidious disease.

• DDF’s website provides accurate, up-to-date and practical information on the treatment and self-management of diabetes throughout its 3,500 pages of information and a free monthly online E-Lerts™ newsletter.
• The KIDD Project has provided 3 million Free Defeat Diabetes® Screening Test brochures to 5000 schools in all 50 states.
• The DAN Project is a Public Service Announcement campaign about the danger of undiagnosed diabetes. It has aired on QVC reaching 186 million homes worldwide and in local communities throughout the United States on network affiliates.
• The Mr. Diabetes ^â Wake Up and Walk ^® Tour is a 10,000+ mile walk of the perimeter of the United States by DDF Executive Director, Andrew P. Mandell – Mr. Diabetes Ò - to create awareness about the disease. THE WALK™ is now in its 8 ^th and final year with Mr. Diabetes® having completed over 9,600 miles of his journey.
• Martial Arts Defeat Diabetes® Community Awareness Action Project . Working with local martial arts schools, DDF is distributing life-saving information about diabetes and its prevention to school age children in communities all over the United States .

We invite and encourage you to be a part of the FLORIDA ORANGE FESTIVAL TM and in creating diabetes awareness so that together we can protect our children from becoming slaves to this life-threatening disease. Visit www.defeatdiabetes.org to see over 3,500 pages of diabetes information or call (941) 362-7632 or email finerplaces@comcast.net for event information!