Thriveabetes 2016 facilitated a collection of unneeded, unused diabetes supplies and insulin to send to Insulin for Life/InDependent Diabetes Trust. This was all organised by a member of the Diabetes Community and mother of a child with type 1 diabetes, Sarah MacCann from Dublin. There was an amazing response! I'll let Sarah tell you all about it.

Thank You from Insulin for Life and Sarah MacCann.

It's taken a little while but I've finally sorted through and sent off all the spare insulin and diabetes supplies so generously donated by delegates at this years’ Thriveabetes conference. And what a result! - 10 vials of insulin, 21 pre-fill cartridges and 31 pre-filled insulin pens - 30+ packets of 10 insulin syringes - 8 full boxes of insulin pen needles - 8 full boxes of lancets - 15+ full boxes/containers of glucose test strips - 12 blood glucose monitors - As well as lancing devices, i-ports, sterile wipes, insulin pens and more.

All new, all unused, all going to save lives and enable people living with diabetes in the developing world to thrive in their own communities.

In all, five boxes were sent off to the InDependent Diabetes Trust, who are Insulin for Life's local partner in the UK. We don't yet have a local partner here in Ireland, but we are working on it. IDDT will send all the donated supplies to local projects in the developing world. Last year alone, they sent 110 parcels of donated supplies including £32,000 worth of in-date insulin to diabetes clinics in Africa. You can read more about it here.

So I just wanted to say thank you so much for bringing along all your unwanted supplies for such a great cause. And thanks for coming to talk to us at our little stand in the exhibitor’s area. It's great to get a chance to spread the word that we can do something really positive with our unwanted diabetes supplies.

You can send your unwanted supplies directly to the IDDT all year round, at: Insulin for Life InDependent Diabetes Trust PO Box 294 Northampton NN1 4XS U.K.

They accept: - Unopened, in-date insulin with at least 3 months until expiry date - Unused insulin pens - Unopened packs of syringes & pen needles - Unused lancets and unopened lancing devices - Unopened glucose test strips - Unused blood glucose monitors

Make sure everything you send is unused and in-date, ideally in its original packaging. And don't forget to say that you heard about them at Thriveabetes!

Thanks again for all your support again and looking forward to meeting you again next year.

Sarah email: i4eireland@gmail.com