The American Diabetes Association’s Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes Campaign is set for Saturday at Mill Creek Regional Park. Registration begins at 9 a.m. with the walk starting at 10 a.m.  
    The annual walk is a unique event for the Diabetes Association where participants raise funds through a variety of ways (Duck for Diabetes, car washes, raffles, garage sales, etc.) prior to the walk and then celebrate their fundraising efforts on the day of the walk. Teams from companies, churches, neighborhoods and friends and family will come out Saturday to raise money and awareness about diabetes. Roughly 300 people are expected to attend.
    The 2011 walk features a health and fitness festival with free blood glucose and blood pressure screenings, fitness information and professional on-site advice on medications along with free literature on a variety of health topics. All funds raised benefit the American Diabetes Association.
    Other upcoming wrap around fundraising events for the Step Out Campaign include:
      Celebrity Bartending Challenge — Tuesday, Oct. 10 from 7–9 p.m. at Chops Restaurant. Come out and support your favorite bartending team, all tips go toward the 2011 Step Out Campaign. Bartending teams include Debbie & Gary Edwards, Valerie & Joseph Powell, Brooke Burke & Joedi Barnes, Lehman Franklin, Jr. & Kevin Zetterower, John Mulherin & David Beaubien and Jessica Sanders & Alex Harris. Admission is $10 per person. For more information contact David Lumpkin at (912) 531-5999.
     Strike Out Diabetes Bowling Tournament
— Sunday, Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. at The Clubhouse (2704 Old Register Road). Grab your friends and form a 4- or 5-man bowling team. The cost is $150 per team and includes three games of bowling, shoes and lunch. Sponsorship opportunities also are available. For more information contact Cindy Horton at (912) 536-2152 or tintshop@frontiernet.net.
    This year’s Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes, led by chairman Darryl Hopkins with the Statesboro-Bulloch Parks & Recreation Department, and co-chaired by David Lumpkin with Re-Max, focuses on “the faces of diabetes in our community,” local individuals who represent the 5,400 people in Bulloch County affected by type 1 and type 2 diabetes.  Nationally, more than 24 million Americans have diabetes and 25 percent of those people don’t even know they have it, putting them at risk for deadly complications.
    According to Hopkins, “A focus this year is on engaging the African American community and the faith community, we really want to reach out to the entire community and encourage people to form teams and come out and walk for health.”
    Diabetes is the fifth leading cause of death by
disease and claims more than 225,000 American lives annually. Improved
nutrition, increased physical activity and awareness of risk factors can completely prevent Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease.
    For more information about diabetes or Saturday’s walk, contact Suzanne Willis at 353-8110, ext. 3093 or suwillis@diabetes.org.