August 10, 2025 • 16 mins
We spoke with President Samantha Merwin with Elbowbumpkid Inc. about the programs they offer to help families with children who have type 1 diabetes.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. My
guest this morning is Samantha Merwin. She is president of
Elbow Bump Kid, Inc. Good morning, good morning, thank you
so much for being here today.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Thanks for inviting me.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
For those who don't know about Elbow Bump Kid, Ink,
tell me, let's just start with the name. How did
that come about?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It's usually the first question people have. So our nonprofit
is named after the elbow Bump Kid, who is named Stage.
She's now eighteen, but he was diagnosed with type one
diabetes when he was seventeen months old. He also had
a lot of food allergies. So when you you know,
typically when you go up to people and you know
you're meeting them for the first time, people shake hands. Well,
(00:42):
at a young age, you know, he had a lot
of touch allergies at that point for nuts, and we said,
you know, don't shake anybody's hands because they could have
had nuts. So he just started elbow bumping people. So
it was kind of known in the diabetes world in
our community as the elbow Bump Kid. So when we
were looking for our name of the nonprofit back in
twenty nineteen, we it was just a natural name. For
(01:03):
the nonprofit. So now he does shake hands because clearly
he's older and those enough to you know, to wash
his hands afterwards. And adalogies are nearly you know, they're
different than they were when he was a little kid.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
So, but what a great name? Whoever thought about that?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Finding a name for a nonprofit is really important, right
because it needs to resonate with the community, and you
need to make sure that you know, there's you know,
there's a story behind it, and are certainly has one.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yes, it does. So how did you come about? How
did it all originate?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Sure, So we just celebrated seventeen years living with type
one diabetes, and when we were diagnosed, we didn't really
feel like, you know, there was much of a community.
Of course, it's very important to have opportunities to you know,
to connect with others that are living the same journey
as you. So while there were a couple here and
there throughout the year, whether it's through fundraising events or whatever,
(01:56):
we really didn't see a lot of a focus. And
as more families, you know, we kept meeting that were
you know, diagnosed, you know, we were arranging events ransomly
like hey, let's go bullying and raise money for this,
or you know, let's all meet up at a playground,
and you know, we worked with other families that were
managing you know, type one for kids of the same age.
(02:17):
So you know that on and off through the years
we would do that. You know, we would work together
with other families to have gatherings. And then in twenty nineteen,
you know, it had been in the making, let's say
for about three years. We wanted to directly help families
more in Connecticut, in our local area, but you know,
from a time perspective, you know, it was just difficult.
(02:39):
So you know, there was a couple of families that
needed some direct support which really could not be done
without having a nonprofit. So a bunch of us moms
got together and we sat down at a restaurant and
we're like, all right, what do we need to do
and make this happen, filed the paperwork and became a
nonprofit in March twenty nineteen. We are a VA, so
we're different than a lot of nonprofits. We arevolunteer powered,
(03:00):
so we do not have any salaried employees. We are
completely powered by our volunteer board and our volunteers that
you know, help power our program.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Wow, that says a lot. That means that they really
love what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yes, six years, six years in we've had the same
format and we don't plan to deviate from that at all.
We're also community funded, so every twenty five dollars donation
actually like goes towards you know, towards program because we
don't have a lot of overheads since we don't have employees,
we don't have a building, we don't have salaries or
anything like that. So you know, every dollar that people
(03:35):
donate actually goes towards community events or community programs are
helping economically disadvantaged families.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Wonderful And if they'd like to make a donation even
right now, just go to Elbow Bump Kidinc Dot org.
Let's talk about those programs that you offer. What would
you like to start with?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Sure? And if people are shopping on you know, Amazon
or somewhere for their back to school supplies, you could
also We have the wishless on the donate tap number.
Beautiful we do because we have Yeah, So the wishless
are first three programs and specifically the first is we
have monthly events for families with Type one and over
(04:12):
fifty percent of those are subsidized or free to that way,
they're accessible to anybody in our community. So we have,
you know, events for little kids to make crafts. You know,
we have a Girl Power program where girls age you know,
six and up living with type one diabetes get together
quarterly and we do things with them like blanket making
(04:33):
stuff like that. So, you know, so one of the
wishlesses you know, to help power those monthly events, so
things like craft kits and things like that. And then
we have the other wishless is for our newly Diagnosed
Type one program, So we help newly diagnosed families that
can't afford some of the non pharmacy supplies that they
(04:53):
need a diagnosis, so things like something to hold you're insulin,
something to keep your insolent cool if your child sports,
and stuff like that. We help a food scale, like
one of the most critical things you need to diagnosis,
and that's just not covered by insurance and nobody physically
gives it to you, so we help try to fill
the gaps. There's a lot of wonderful nonprofits out there
that help new that help families living with type one,
(05:16):
and we kind of help fill the gaps locally Connecticut, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, you know, to make sure that families have
what they need to start their journey successfully, because it's
a journey, not a destination, right, So our second wish
list is for that, you know, to help with some
of those items that we provide the families. And then
our third wish list is for our Celiac program, which
(05:38):
we are rolling out actually like within the next two weeks.
So we've always had small resources on our website, you know,
just to inform about Celiac disease because it's a common
secondary diagnosis for families living with type one diabetes. But
we're launching some very specific resources that we created for
that community in a specific kids corner two to help
kids understand why they might have to deal with something else.
(06:01):
So our third wish list is related to is related
to that. So some of the things that families need
to do right when they're diagnosed, and they might not
be able to afford to in order to maintain the
requirements of a disease, so you have to replace things
like apasta strainer and you know, any wooden cooking spoons
and stuff like that. So that is on our third
wish list for CELIAC. So that's kind of an overview
(06:23):
of that. As far as programs related to the wishlist,
we have a lot of other programs.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
But yes, or do and we can talk more about that.
But for those who don't understand what type one diabetes is,
maybe you could explain or.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Type one diabetes and you know, as I would explain
it to a third grade or maybe is you know,
it's an autoimmune disease. Basically, your pancreas doesn't function as
it's supposed to be to make insulince, so you need
to get insulin another way. So you know, my child
stage has always chose to get insulince through an insulin pump.
(06:56):
But so the insulin pump is attached to his body
and gives him insulin at regular intervals throughout the day,
and then if he eats, he gives himself extra insoluence
to that food based on the number of carbohydrates that
are in the food. Some people choose to get insul
in a different way, which would be through shots. So
if you've ever seen somebody you know giving themselves shots,
whether it's you know, at school or at a restaurant
(07:18):
or something they're giving themself shots before they eat or
you know, in the morning and at night for their
regular background basl insulin. So basically, your pancreas is still
in your body and it has some minor functionality, but
it does not function to make the insulin that you
need to stay alive.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
So to change the subject a little bit, something big happened.
You want some money from the Red Sox. We did.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
We did. We competed in a intense contest for six
weeks of voting where the community at large, anywhere you lived.
We're voting on nonprofits throughout for every state in New England,
so Connecticut, mass Chusets, hud Island, New Hampshire, main every
state had five nonprofits competing for fifteen thousand dollars awards.
(08:02):
So we won for Connecticut and we're so grateful for
the support of the community in Connecticut and beyond that
elected us as the nonprofit that makes you know, the
most impact for type one diabetes in Connecticut.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Congratulations, that's wonderful, Thank you, thank you. Earlier, you were
mentioning some of the programs. Did you talk about the
differentiator programs with the currently diagnosed and the newly diagnosed.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Oh I didn't, but that's a really good that's a
really good call out. So newly diagnosed, you're newly diagnosed,
you know, you're totally overwhelmed by you know, all the
stuff that your doctor's telling you. And you know, what's
the first thing that people do these days, if you're
on social media, you go on social and you go search. Right,
So we try to catch you know, we try to
catch a new patient that way or through the two
(08:48):
local endoke chronology clinics that tend to diagnose children living
in our area with Fife one. So we try to
catch them that way. We engage them. We have you know,
our resource document that we give them. We welcome them
into the community and if they need, if they need
a non pharmacy item because they can't economically afford it,
(09:09):
we'll give it to them. And if not, we will
still give them you know, some goodies like you know,
giveaway type stuff diabetes related and then something for their
child to know that they're not alone. But if they're
currently diagnosed, so you're diagnosed through the years, your ten years,
and you know, sometimes you just need a helping hand, right,
whether it's because your child isn't waking up at night
(09:31):
for their low blood sugars and they're a teenager and
you want something to kind of help them so they
can have more independence. We help with some of those items.
So for example, you know, the item I just mentioned
is a one hundred dollars item that can really you know,
elevate the noise in your room to help those teenagers
wake up. In that way, you feel better about them
being on their own for sleepovers or if they're away
(09:52):
with friends or something like that. So, you know, we
help power that if a family needs a helping hand
they might have, you know, there's they're sling bag broke,
or they need an insolent cooler. So you know, we
have a few items on our list that we help
families with. We don't help them with any pharmacy items
because clearly that's not that's not in our lane. We
try to stay in our lane, but we help them
(10:14):
with the non pharmacy items that help them, you know,
on their journeys.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Knowing what you know now and stage is older. Now,
what advice would you offer to a parent who has
a child that has been newly diagnosed with type one diabetes?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Absolutely I would say, you know, there's a couple of things. First,
it's a journey, not a destination, right, take some time
to grieve the life you had before. It's important to
do that because you know, sometimes people jump right in
and then a year later they completely break down. What
you need to do right. You need to do the
task to keep your you know, you know, the day
to day functions to keep your kids alive every day,
(10:51):
because there's you know, a lot of extra decisions that
you have to make as a family with type one.
But take the time to integrate type one into your life,
you know, and make sure that or you know, figuring
out how to adapt so that you're not saying no
because of type one. So we always tried with our child,
and we try to encourage and help other families to
figure out how to fit it in right, so you're
(11:12):
not saying no, you can't go to that field trip
or no you can't go here with your friends. Try
to figure out what's going to be, you know, your
successful plans, to make sure that you know you can
adapt it, you know, into your life. And then the
second thing would be, of course to engage with the
community you know, wherever you are, so if you're on social,
you know, there are social parent groups, whether you join
(11:33):
our local Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island group, or whether you
aren't on social and you choose to engage in other ways,
you know, make sure you're connecting with other families because
it's really important, especially when you have, you know, questions.
You see your doctor every you know, every three months,
but the community is available twenty four to seven and
everybody's here to you know, to help you along and
(11:53):
give you encouragement and support.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
It's wonderful when you can speak to someone who says,
I get it, I've walked the walk, I've talk the talk. Doctor.
Google not good. Every single organization doctor, They're like, don't Google,
and I mean, of course we do that. But it's
wonderful that you have a community.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yeah, it's very successful community in our area and some
other areas of the country. So we feel lucky that
we have so many community members that are on there
to help support others.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
You mentioned volunteers your volunteer run. Are you looking for
more volunteers? Do you train volunteers?
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Oh? Absolutely so we are. So whether you're you know,
whether you have diabetes or not, we are always looking
for talented volunteers. So whether it's you know, whether it's
videos or social media or an accountants right now, or
you know, there's you know, always, you know, I think
about any business function. We are always looking for active
(12:48):
volunteers that want to help us power these programs. And
there are some background items as well. We've been very
successful getting some volunteers through Catch a Fire for professional
services and we have local volunt your families to help
us as far as you know, trying to engage with
businesses to help, you know, get a space for events.
So we're not paying for space, we're actually paying for
(13:10):
you know, for programs.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
So we have a lot of volunteers both in and
out of the diabetes community, but we are always looking
for more volunteers, specifically for professional services where we're trying
to limit the amounts that we are you know, paying
for that so that way we're not taking away from
our programs.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Just want to go back for a moment, because you
have scholarships for college.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
We started a few years ago. We started a scholarship
program where it's only for students that their primary residents
is in Connecticut, Massachusetts or Rhode Islands. You know, clearly
are you know, staying again, staying in our leane in
our area that are living with type one diabetes and
they're going for post secondary education. So it doesn't have
(13:51):
to be college. It could be a trade school, something
that they something that they're passionate about and they're going
to pursue after high school. So we do that every
year in the spring, so we have you know, many
apply to win, and we're a little different. We don't
just send the student in a check. We actually physically
meet with them and we interview them so we you know,
(14:12):
are our winners this year were Ivy and Hannah. They
were fantastic. I had breakfast with them and I talked
to them about living with type one diabetes in college
because we use their lived experience to help, you know,
in two ways. One when we're sending out we have
another college program in the fall where we send out
little blood sugar kits to students living away from home
(14:32):
that are based in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, but
they're living you know, at college, so you know, we
might use some of their advice to help us decide
like what to put in there, or if a parent,
you know, ask us questions about living with Type one
away from home. We use the experience of our scholarship applicants,
so we do that every year. We take their picture
in person and we physically meet them, which is great.
(14:54):
And we also have another scholarship program for families that
sometimes you just need a little bit more intense education. Right,
you feel like you're you know, you might be stagnant
in your journey, or you want to take it a
little further and you want and you want to attend
an educational conference. So there's this one educational conference every
years called Friends for Life, and it's run by an
(15:17):
organization children with diabetes. They're wonderful. It's it's three days
of really intense seminars and some families just really need that.
So we give out scholarships for that for not for
the full tit not for the full ride, but we'd
give up like a partial subsidy if they want to attend,
and then they give us feedback afterwards. Most of those
families that we've provided a scholarship to under that program
(15:39):
have really given back to our community. One of them's
on our board right now, actually joined our board last year. Yeah,
she was so impacted by the scholarship and what it
did for her family that she just decided she wants
to help others. So she joined our board, and a
couple of our volunteers and community members that still continue
to go to our monthly programs here in Connecticut are
(16:00):
very you know, are very active in our community after
that scholarship because they just feel empowered by the information
that they received there, and their kids really enjoyed it
because they were able to see in pure volume like hey,
we're not alone, like all over the kids all over
the country are living just like me every day.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Wow. I am speaking with Samantha Merwin. She is president
of Elbow Bump Kid, Inc. Again It's Elbow Bumpkidinc. Dot org.
If you'd like to find out about more of the programs,
there's several more that we can talk about events that
are coming up. Ways to donate volunteers again, go to
Elbow Bumpkidinc. Dot org. Samantha, thank you so much for
(16:43):
being here today, for sharing your story and for serving
the community.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Thank you thanks for inviting me
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. My
guest this morning is Samantha Merwin. She is president of
Elbow Bump Kid, Inc. Good morning, good morning, thank you
so much for being here today.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Thanks for inviting me.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
For those who don't know about Elbow Bump Kid, Ink,
tell me, let's just start with the name. How did
that come about?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It's usually the first question people have. So our nonprofit
is named after the elbow Bump Kid, who is named Stage.
She's now eighteen, but he was diagnosed with type one
diabetes when he was seventeen months old. He also had
a lot of food allergies. So when you you know,
typically when you go up to people and you know
you're meeting them for the first time, people shake hands. Well,
(00:42):
at a young age, you know, he had a lot
of touch allergies at that point for nuts, and we said,
you know, don't shake anybody's hands because they could have
had nuts. So he just started elbow bumping people. So
it was kind of known in the diabetes world in
our community as the elbow Bump Kid. So when we
were looking for our name of the nonprofit back in
twenty nineteen, we it was just a natural name. For
(01:03):
the nonprofit. So now he does shake hands because clearly
he's older and those enough to you know, to wash
his hands afterwards. And adalogies are nearly you know, they're
different than they were when he was a little kid.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
So, but what a great name? Whoever thought about that?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Finding a name for a nonprofit is really important, right
because it needs to resonate with the community, and you
need to make sure that you know, there's you know,
there's a story behind it, and are certainly has one.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yes, it does. So how did you come about? How
did it all originate?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Sure, So we just celebrated seventeen years living with type
one diabetes, and when we were diagnosed, we didn't really
feel like, you know, there was much of a community.
Of course, it's very important to have opportunities to you know,
to connect with others that are living the same journey
as you. So while there were a couple here and
there throughout the year, whether it's through fundraising events or whatever,
(01:56):
we really didn't see a lot of a focus. And
as more families, you know, we kept meeting that were
you know, diagnosed, you know, we were arranging events ransomly
like hey, let's go bullying and raise money for this,
or you know, let's all meet up at a playground,
and you know, we worked with other families that were
managing you know, type one for kids of the same age.
(02:17):
So you know that on and off through the years
we would do that. You know, we would work together
with other families to have gatherings. And then in twenty nineteen,
you know, it had been in the making, let's say
for about three years. We wanted to directly help families
more in Connecticut, in our local area, but you know,
from a time perspective, you know, it was just difficult.
(02:39):
So you know, there was a couple of families that
needed some direct support which really could not be done
without having a nonprofit. So a bunch of us moms
got together and we sat down at a restaurant and
we're like, all right, what do we need to do
and make this happen, filed the paperwork and became a
nonprofit in March twenty nineteen. We are a VA, so
we're different than a lot of nonprofits. We arevolunteer powered,
(03:00):
so we do not have any salaried employees. We are
completely powered by our volunteer board and our volunteers that
you know, help power our program.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Wow, that says a lot. That means that they really
love what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yes, six years, six years in we've had the same
format and we don't plan to deviate from that at all.
We're also community funded, so every twenty five dollars donation
actually like goes towards you know, towards program because we
don't have a lot of overheads since we don't have employees,
we don't have a building, we don't have salaries or
anything like that. So you know, every dollar that people
(03:35):
donate actually goes towards community events or community programs are
helping economically disadvantaged families.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Wonderful And if they'd like to make a donation even
right now, just go to Elbow Bump Kidinc Dot org.
Let's talk about those programs that you offer. What would
you like to start with?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Sure? And if people are shopping on you know, Amazon
or somewhere for their back to school supplies, you could
also We have the wishless on the donate tap number.
Beautiful we do because we have Yeah, So the wishless
are first three programs and specifically the first is we
have monthly events for families with Type one and over
(04:12):
fifty percent of those are subsidized or free to that way,
they're accessible to anybody in our community. So we have,
you know, events for little kids to make crafts. You know,
we have a Girl Power program where girls age you know,
six and up living with type one diabetes get together
quarterly and we do things with them like blanket making
(04:33):
stuff like that. So, you know, so one of the
wishlesses you know, to help power those monthly events, so
things like craft kits and things like that. And then
we have the other wishless is for our newly Diagnosed
Type one program, So we help newly diagnosed families that
can't afford some of the non pharmacy supplies that they
(04:53):
need a diagnosis, so things like something to hold you're insulin,
something to keep your insolent cool if your child sports,
and stuff like that. We help a food scale, like
one of the most critical things you need to diagnosis,
and that's just not covered by insurance and nobody physically
gives it to you, so we help try to fill
the gaps. There's a lot of wonderful nonprofits out there
that help new that help families living with type one,
(05:16):
and we kind of help fill the gaps locally Connecticut, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, you know, to make sure that families have
what they need to start their journey successfully, because it's
a journey, not a destination, right, So our second wish
list is for that, you know, to help with some
of those items that we provide the families. And then
our third wish list is for our Celiac program, which
(05:38):
we are rolling out actually like within the next two weeks.
So we've always had small resources on our website, you know,
just to inform about Celiac disease because it's a common
secondary diagnosis for families living with type one diabetes. But
we're launching some very specific resources that we created for
that community in a specific kids corner two to help
kids understand why they might have to deal with something else.
(06:01):
So our third wish list is related to is related
to that. So some of the things that families need
to do right when they're diagnosed, and they might not
be able to afford to in order to maintain the
requirements of a disease, so you have to replace things
like apasta strainer and you know, any wooden cooking spoons
and stuff like that. So that is on our third
wish list for CELIAC. So that's kind of an overview
(06:23):
of that. As far as programs related to the wishlist,
we have a lot of other programs.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
But yes, or do and we can talk more about that.
But for those who don't understand what type one diabetes is,
maybe you could explain or.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Type one diabetes and you know, as I would explain
it to a third grade or maybe is you know,
it's an autoimmune disease. Basically, your pancreas doesn't function as
it's supposed to be to make insulince, so you need
to get insulin another way. So you know, my child
stage has always chose to get insulince through an insulin pump.
(06:56):
But so the insulin pump is attached to his body
and gives him insulin at regular intervals throughout the day,
and then if he eats, he gives himself extra insoluence
to that food based on the number of carbohydrates that
are in the food. Some people choose to get insul
in a different way, which would be through shots. So
if you've ever seen somebody you know giving themselves shots,
whether it's you know, at school or at a restaurant
(07:18):
or something they're giving themself shots before they eat or
you know, in the morning and at night for their
regular background basl insulin. So basically, your pancreas is still
in your body and it has some minor functionality, but
it does not function to make the insulin that you
need to stay alive.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
So to change the subject a little bit, something big happened.
You want some money from the Red Sox. We did.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
We did. We competed in a intense contest for six
weeks of voting where the community at large, anywhere you lived.
We're voting on nonprofits throughout for every state in New England,
so Connecticut, mass Chusets, hud Island, New Hampshire, main every
state had five nonprofits competing for fifteen thousand dollars awards.
(08:02):
So we won for Connecticut and we're so grateful for
the support of the community in Connecticut and beyond that
elected us as the nonprofit that makes you know, the
most impact for type one diabetes in Connecticut.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Congratulations, that's wonderful, Thank you, thank you. Earlier, you were
mentioning some of the programs. Did you talk about the
differentiator programs with the currently diagnosed and the newly diagnosed.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Oh I didn't, but that's a really good that's a
really good call out. So newly diagnosed, you're newly diagnosed,
you know, you're totally overwhelmed by you know, all the
stuff that your doctor's telling you. And you know, what's
the first thing that people do these days, if you're
on social media, you go on social and you go search. Right,
So we try to catch you know, we try to
catch a new patient that way or through the two
(08:48):
local endoke chronology clinics that tend to diagnose children living
in our area with Fife one. So we try to
catch them that way. We engage them. We have you know,
our resource document that we give them. We welcome them
into the community and if they need, if they need
a non pharmacy item because they can't economically afford it,
(09:09):
we'll give it to them. And if not, we will
still give them you know, some goodies like you know,
giveaway type stuff diabetes related and then something for their
child to know that they're not alone. But if they're
currently diagnosed, so you're diagnosed through the years, your ten years,
and you know, sometimes you just need a helping hand, right,
whether it's because your child isn't waking up at night
(09:31):
for their low blood sugars and they're a teenager and
you want something to kind of help them so they
can have more independence. We help with some of those items.
So for example, you know, the item I just mentioned
is a one hundred dollars item that can really you know,
elevate the noise in your room to help those teenagers
wake up. In that way, you feel better about them
being on their own for sleepovers or if they're away
(09:52):
with friends or something like that. So, you know, we
help power that if a family needs a helping hand
they might have, you know, there's they're sling bag broke,
or they need an insolent cooler. So you know, we
have a few items on our list that we help
families with. We don't help them with any pharmacy items
because clearly that's not that's not in our lane. We
try to stay in our lane, but we help them
(10:14):
with the non pharmacy items that help them, you know,
on their journeys.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Knowing what you know now and stage is older. Now,
what advice would you offer to a parent who has
a child that has been newly diagnosed with type one diabetes?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Absolutely I would say, you know, there's a couple of things. First,
it's a journey, not a destination, right, take some time
to grieve the life you had before. It's important to
do that because you know, sometimes people jump right in
and then a year later they completely break down. What
you need to do right. You need to do the
task to keep your you know, you know, the day
to day functions to keep your kids alive every day,
(10:51):
because there's you know, a lot of extra decisions that
you have to make as a family with type one.
But take the time to integrate type one into your life,
you know, and make sure that or you know, figuring
out how to adapt so that you're not saying no
because of type one. So we always tried with our child,
and we try to encourage and help other families to
figure out how to fit it in right, so you're
(11:12):
not saying no, you can't go to that field trip
or no you can't go here with your friends. Try
to figure out what's going to be, you know, your
successful plans, to make sure that you know you can
adapt it, you know, into your life. And then the
second thing would be, of course to engage with the
community you know, wherever you are, so if you're on social,
you know, there are social parent groups, whether you join
(11:33):
our local Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island group, or whether you
aren't on social and you choose to engage in other ways,
you know, make sure you're connecting with other families because
it's really important, especially when you have, you know, questions.
You see your doctor every you know, every three months,
but the community is available twenty four to seven and
everybody's here to you know, to help you along and
(11:53):
give you encouragement and support.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
It's wonderful when you can speak to someone who says,
I get it, I've walked the walk, I've talk the talk. Doctor.
Google not good. Every single organization doctor, They're like, don't Google,
and I mean, of course we do that. But it's
wonderful that you have a community.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yeah, it's very successful community in our area and some
other areas of the country. So we feel lucky that
we have so many community members that are on there
to help support others.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
You mentioned volunteers your volunteer run. Are you looking for
more volunteers? Do you train volunteers?
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Oh? Absolutely so we are. So whether you're you know,
whether you have diabetes or not, we are always looking
for talented volunteers. So whether it's you know, whether it's
videos or social media or an accountants right now, or
you know, there's you know, always, you know, I think
about any business function. We are always looking for active
(12:48):
volunteers that want to help us power these programs. And
there are some background items as well. We've been very
successful getting some volunteers through Catch a Fire for professional
services and we have local volunt your families to help
us as far as you know, trying to engage with
businesses to help, you know, get a space for events.
So we're not paying for space, we're actually paying for
(13:10):
you know, for programs.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
So we have a lot of volunteers both in and
out of the diabetes community, but we are always looking
for more volunteers, specifically for professional services where we're trying
to limit the amounts that we are you know, paying
for that so that way we're not taking away from
our programs.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Just want to go back for a moment, because you
have scholarships for college.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
We started a few years ago. We started a scholarship
program where it's only for students that their primary residents
is in Connecticut, Massachusetts or Rhode Islands. You know, clearly
are you know, staying again, staying in our leane in
our area that are living with type one diabetes and
they're going for post secondary education. So it doesn't have
(13:51):
to be college. It could be a trade school, something
that they something that they're passionate about and they're going
to pursue after high school. So we do that every
year in the spring, so we have you know, many
apply to win, and we're a little different. We don't
just send the student in a check. We actually physically
meet with them and we interview them so we you know,
(14:12):
are our winners this year were Ivy and Hannah. They
were fantastic. I had breakfast with them and I talked
to them about living with type one diabetes in college
because we use their lived experience to help, you know,
in two ways. One when we're sending out we have
another college program in the fall where we send out
little blood sugar kits to students living away from home
(14:32):
that are based in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, but
they're living you know, at college, so you know, we
might use some of their advice to help us decide
like what to put in there, or if a parent,
you know, ask us questions about living with Type one
away from home. We use the experience of our scholarship applicants,
so we do that every year. We take their picture
in person and we physically meet them, which is great.
(14:54):
And we also have another scholarship program for families that
sometimes you just need a little bit more intense education. Right,
you feel like you're you know, you might be stagnant
in your journey, or you want to take it a
little further and you want and you want to attend
an educational conference. So there's this one educational conference every
years called Friends for Life, and it's run by an
(15:17):
organization children with diabetes. They're wonderful. It's it's three days
of really intense seminars and some families just really need that.
So we give out scholarships for that for not for
the full tit not for the full ride, but we'd
give up like a partial subsidy if they want to attend,
and then they give us feedback afterwards. Most of those
families that we've provided a scholarship to under that program
(15:39):
have really given back to our community. One of them's
on our board right now, actually joined our board last year. Yeah,
she was so impacted by the scholarship and what it
did for her family that she just decided she wants
to help others. So she joined our board, and a
couple of our volunteers and community members that still continue
to go to our monthly programs here in Connecticut are
(16:00):
very you know, are very active in our community after
that scholarship because they just feel empowered by the information
that they received there, and their kids really enjoyed it
because they were able to see in pure volume like hey,
we're not alone, like all over the kids all over
the country are living just like me every day.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Wow. I am speaking with Samantha Merwin. She is president
of Elbow Bump Kid, Inc. Again It's Elbow Bumpkidinc. Dot org.
If you'd like to find out about more of the programs,
there's several more that we can talk about events that
are coming up. Ways to donate volunteers again, go to
Elbow Bumpkidinc. Dot org. Samantha, thank you so much for
(16:43):
being here today, for sharing your story and for serving
the community.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Thank you thanks for inviting me
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