AYUDA 2025 Campo Amigo Program

Hello Hello Hello! Thank you for your interest in AYUDA and my story! 

*****post 2025 program update*****

firstly, thank you so very much to everyone who has donated, shown up for my bake sales/garage sales/etc., shared my posts, and generally shown your support for me and this program. truly, YOU have changed lives.

this summer i was so lucky to be a part of the group of volunteers that put on a campo amigo that highlighted the very best of what this program can be. we made connections with the diabetes community both old and young at our youth + family camps and at our type two diabetes educational workshops! we helped strengthen the network of the local organizations working on local educational and empowerment initiatives at our second annual campo in azua! and, as usual, we made new friends, struggled, overcame, danced, laughed, cried, and bolused for many orders of tostones! 

this summer, I had the honor and pleasure of speaking with the parent of a newly diagnosed young girl. he was, entirely within reason, worried for his daughter and her future and feeling a lot. sitting in front of him and letting him know that i, at my big age of twenty, have lived happily and healthily since my diagnosis communicated hope so powerfully and tangibly that our short conversation is without a doubt the stand out moment in the entirety of my time with AYUDA. i told him that i am the daughter of someone who almost eighteen years ago was just as afraid, confused, emotional and uncertain as he was. and that through every fight over a painful injection and through every high-blood sugar induced tantrum my parents have made has made it to today to send their daughter off to college, and even overseas. sharing my story in such an impactful moment meant so much to me. I feel incredibly connected to this father and daughter who, hopefully with the help of the fudacion aprendiendo a vivir and AYUDA can thrive while caring for diabetes. we always say that AYUDA is a family, and this year that was more true than ever. my younger sibling Bailey joined me on this program. Bailey has been with me on my own journey with type one every step of the way, and I was so grateful to have them on this program that in particular provoked a lot of reflection and gratitude for how much my amazing family has done for me in living with t1d.

I have been working with ayuda for many years now (six summers and counting…) and i cannot begin to express how grateful i am for those in my life who continue to show up for me and this program, and for new friends and supporters who help make our work possible. returning to this program for my sixth year has once again assured me that the work AYUDA does with Campo Amigo is unlike anything else, and that i want to be a part of this work for as long as they will have me. 

one of AYUDA’s core principles is that our model is built on peer to peer connection and education, because of this our work creates a genuinely magical bond. 

i will forever be grateful for all that i have learned, experiences i have been invited to share, and they joy that this program radiates. as corny as it may sound, being a part of this program makes me a part of a whole that is truly so much more than the sum of its parts. together we really are stronger :) juntos somos más fuertes 🧡💙

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I am thrilled to be returning as a Volunteer Mentor for the Campo Amigo 2025 program. This will be my third year returning to the Dominican Republic to work on this incredible program, and I am as excited and proud of this work as I was when I began working with AYUDA in 2020. This year I will be taking on a leadership role and can’t wait to see the new things I can learn and be challenged by in this role. 

I have lived with Type 1 diabetes for 15 years, and I am extremely grateful for all of the resources I have available to me and the generosity and care with which I have been supported on my journey with T1d. Access to support, resources, and education is not the reality for many people living with the condition, and one of the most enriching experiences of my life - with T1d or without - has been working with AYUDA on their Campo Amigo programs to change this. The community I became a part of, the skills I have learned, and the lives that have touched mine doing this work, are experiences I carry with me in everything that I do. 

AYUDA is a volunteer-centric organization. This means that without volunteers like me, and support from our fundraising, it would be impossible to run these programs! My goal this year is to raise $8,000 for AYUDA and our work to support people living with type 1 diabetes. Everyone deserves to have the best tools possible to be healthy. As a youth volunteer, I am empowered to promote real change in the circumstances and lives of people in the diabetes community. 

Working with AAV (Aprendiendo A Vivir), AYUDA’s partner organization in the DR, I will spend my days planning for and running our 3-days of Campo Amigo, where we lead kids of all ages in activities we design to be fun + educational, show living with diabetes is not a death sentence, and you are never alone living with t1d. 

THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who has supported me and my adventures with AYUDA over the years. Your contributions make this program possible !!

¡Juntos Somos más fuertes! Together we are stronger!