2005 Children’s Congress in Washington
By Zach McCaskill – JDRF Youth Ambassador
From June 18-22, 2005, I was fortunate to be part of the JDRF’s “Children’s Congress 2005” held in Washington D.C. Along with me, who represented Canada, there was someone from Israel, Denmark, Greece, Australia and The United Kingdom. Each international delegate was partnered with a kid from the US and my American counterpart, Adam, was from Massachusetts. There were over 150 children delegates from around the United States that attended Congress. It was an incredible experience that I will never forget. It was truly inspiring to see so many kids like myself come together for the same cause.
This event was very similar to our own “Kids for a Cure Lobby Day,” which takes place in Ottawa. It was designed so that we would spend a day on Capitol Hill meeting with politicians and discussing our respective issues but included many other events too. The day before the Capital Hill meetings, all the 
delegates sang a song on the front lawn of Capital Hill entitled “Promise to Remember Me.” The purpose of this event was really to remind the senators and congressmen/congresswomen that we were there and were asking for them to join us in the fight to cure this disease. This went over very well and there was a great amount of press at the event. I was also fortunate enough to meet Mary Tyler Moore and the international delegates had their picture taken with her.
On Tuesday, there was a Senate hearing in which an adult panel consisting of Mary Tyler Moore, Hollywood producer Douglas Wick, Olympic gold medal swimmer Gary Hall and scientist Dr. Allen Spiegel testified. Then 6 children delegates testified before the Senators explaining their personal fight with Type 1 Diabetes and what a cure would mean to them. At one point, I’m sure every one in the room was a bit teary eyed but everyone left the Senate hearing very motivated and united in what we could do to secure support for our fight.
Following the Senate hearing, all delegates were assigned to meet Senators from their state as well as their Congressman/Congresswomen. As I was part of the Massachusetts group, I was very fortunate to meet with Senator Edward Kennedy. We were also to meet with Senator John Kerry but as he was not in Washington that day, we met with his Health Aide. It inspired me even more when the likes of Kennedy and many other politicians indicated that they were on our side fighting for increased funding and a more wide range funding policy for stem cell research, which as we all know may hold the key to a cure.
I made many great friendships with kids my age. Despite our varied interests, the one thing we all have in common is this disease and we all look forward to the day when we can meet again to celebrate how great it is to not have to live with this disease any longer. As young people, Children’s Congress showed us that a cure is possible and that many people are working for us to ensure that this happens.
