By C.D. DESALVO
Hays Post

For fans of disc golf, or anyone looking to do something different on their Saturday afternoon, a team from Fort Hays University’s Leadership 310 class, along with Lexi Pfannenstiel and Ashley Moore, will be putting on the “Drive Away Diabetes” charity disc golf scramble to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

“The class is connecting what we have learned in previous leadership courses and it connects us with the Hays community to try and do different service projects,” said Leadership 310 student Dalton Steinert. “Everything we raise is going directly to the JDRF.”

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is committed to accelerating life-changing breakthroughs to cure, prevent and treat type 1 diabetes (Juvenile Diabetes) and its complications. With type 1 diabetes, the pancreas stops producing insulin, which is a hormone that that the body uses to get energy from food.

For most people, the body does this automatically, but for people with type 1 diabetes, they must constantly monitor their blood-sugar levels and balance insulin doses with diet and activity throughout the day and night. The fluctuation of blood-sugar levels can cause potentially life-threatening hypoglycemic and hyperglycemic episodes for these people.

“Essentially what they (JDRF) do is they help raise money and focus on finding a cure for diabetes. They also help with medical expenses because diabetes is a very costly disease with medical equipment, medication and insulin and everything, so JDRF really works on funding cure research efforts and then also providing some sort of compensation for people that have the disease in any way that they can,” Steinert said.

The disc golf scramble will be a tournament-style event featuring 2-person and 4-person teams. A scramble focuses the rules on having fun and not keeping individual scores. The rules apply to both the 2-person teams and the 4-person teams with all team members starting each hole by shooting from the same starting spot. The team’s next shot will be from the disc that lands closest to the hole on the previous attempt.

The disc golf scramble will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 29, at the large shelterhouse in Frontier Park, which is located at the start of the disc golf course. Two-person teams will be $30, and 4-person teams will be $50 for registration. Day-of registration is available, cash or check are acceptable forms of payment, and all proceeds go to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

For more information, email [email protected] or [email protected].

More information is also available on the group’s Facebook page.