Our Programs
1. Support Group Meetings
STJDA hosts quarterly family meetings on management of juvenile diabetes. Coffee Connections and Family Events are key to a family’s success.
2. Trainings
Unlicensed Diabetes Care Assistant (UDCA) training is delivered to a wide range of school districts, families and the community at large.
3. Shot Spots Bears
STJDA partners with all Rio Grande Valley hospitals to provide approximately 100 Shot Spots Bears annually to children initially diagnosed with diabetes following a hospital visit. The box includes a Build-a-Bear and literature to help ensure the family has information they need for 30 days from hospital discharge. The bears have sewn-on patches to help children learn about insulin injections and insulin pump site rotation.
4. Camp Programs
Our Camps Program includes our residential Camp Freedom and multiple Day Camps in different cities across the Rio Grande Valley. Camps include our Residential Camp Freedom, Nature Day Camp, Engineering Day Camp and Science Day Camp. These camps make an impact through the increased confidence of children and youth living with diabetes who leave camp taking more responsibility for their own diabetes care.
5. Medical Assistance Fund
The Medical Assistance Fund helps families have access to care and supplies. If not for this program, many families would go without and that is not an option for children living with diabetes.
6. Scholarships
The scholarship fund was created to help kids look past diabetes to a higher education. Diabetes should never define our children!
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7. Stomp Out Diabetes
Stomp Out Diabetes was started in 2014 as a weeklong preventative program, reaching over 23,000 elementary school age children in several school districts. We have exceedingly more children impacted by Type 2 diabetes and obesity and we know if they continue on this trend the impact will be devastating.
8. 24-7 Help Line
The 24-7 Help Line is a lifeline for many families, especially those that are newly diagnosed and who are struggling with understanding and living with the diagnosis.
9. Community Awareness
We provide community awareness through our annual 5K Sweet Run, and participation in health fairs and diabetes awareness events.
10. Specialized Food Pantry
The specialized food pantry was created to serve families in need of education and whole foods that will give them better health outcomes. We currently operate monthly pantries in McAllen and Weslaco.
11. Mid-Valley Expansion
The Mid-Valley Expansion Project has allowed STJDA to create a satellite location in the Mid-Valley to provide programs to families in the area. This project is currently supported by the Knapp Community Care Foundation and the Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation.
12. Specialized Clinic
The Specialized Clinic, operated in partnership with Hope Clinic, offers an alternative to uninsured families of children with diabetes. The community pulls together to offer their time as volunteers in medicine to make sure our children with this chronic disease have access to quarterly care by the specialists they need to manager their condition.
13. Community Garden
As we have expanded our work into the area of food security, many families expressed a need to have access to food beyond our Specialized Pantry. In partnership with First Presbyterian Church of Weslaco and Texas A&M Agrilife, we have created a community garden in the Mid-Valley to provide a sustainable food source for families in need.
14. Youth Leadership Training
Our newest STJDA project aims to develop the leadership skills of the many high school and college age students who volunteer for STJDA programs. Soft skills, conflict resolution and how to make a proper appeal are taught to teens and young adults to instill the high quality of morals and values we wish to model among the children we serve.