​projectbluenovember

projectbluenovember 365

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What a month it was! The Project Blue November crew never could have

imagined that during November we’d have over one million (ONE MILLION!)

unique visits, create diabetes facts shared by tens of thousands, help

the IDF’s Pin a Celebrity program launch into the stratosphere, and

become mentioned as one of the best places to join up to make your

Diabetes Awareness Month really count. We are humbled and delighted.

After all, the goal here was awareness. We all as a team sure made that

happen.

 

So now that November is over, the obvious question is: What’s next?

Does a site named “Project Blue November” go into hibernation? Not at

all. Sure, we don’t swing for the bleachers like we do during our “world

series month,” but we do keep in training all year long. How?

Let us share.

 

But first, a question: who are we? Folks have been asking it from the start. And we agreed to stay behind the scenes. Here is why: we really feel any person who likes the page, visits the page, shares a fact, takes part in an event or contest IS PBN. Our goal was to build the biggest team who are all on the same page when it comes to diabetes advocacy and awareness, and have us all working in harmony toward our shared goal.

 

But there is a group of us who started this. We are parents, for the most part (although we do have some adults with diabetes advising us and joining us as we go forward in more active ways).

 

We were inspired late summer/early fall when everyone was doing the Ice Bucket Challenge, and when everyone (it seemed) in the diabetes world was asking: what about us? A small group of us, all friends via on line support groups, in person events we met at and even having been World Diabetes Day postcard exchange match ups (how cool is that?) decided we should do something about it.

So we looked around. And realized, quite quickly, that much was being done. What was needed was not something new. What was needed was a better way for folks to access what is being done and what they can do. So we imagined a kind of “Publisher’s Clearing House” for diabetes awareness. We’d share great programs and promote them. We’d partner up with groups when needed. We’d create some new content and events, but never in competition and never competitive with what is out there already.

 

In what seemed like a flash, we jumped to action. One of us is a master of web design. Another is a medical field expert who could guide us well in that way. Still another was a master organizer who could boss us around – I mean manage us the way we needed to be managed. Some were great at content, others at figuring out what folks wanted. We spoke daily, and created Project Blue November.

When we spoke recently about explaining whom we are, one of us brought up that cool ending to “The Breakfast Club.” And that’s kind of true – we are all a little bit of everything. And it works.

 

So what’s to come? We all need a breather, and we won’t be going as hard the rest of the year, but we will be keeping ourselves in shape, up to date and ready for next November. We picture it like Baseball.

 

The World Series just ended (and we all won! Yay us!). Now, we’ll still go to the gym daily and eat right (via weekly events like Monday Memes and Bloggers worth reading eachWednesday; cool science and research updates on weekends). In the late winter, we’ll shift into “spring training” and really keep you involved and up to date (research updates, mini fundraisers like our T shirt sales that have already donated thousands to diabetes charities. We don’t raise anything for PBN itself.) In the summer, we’ll look to get stronger and stronger still, building our numbers even more and gathering your events programs and ideas for November. And then it will be time again to shine.

We are so thankful you’ve joined us and hope you’ll stay around as we all work toward our goal as a team.

 

YOU are PBN, one of the team. And the world is thankful for that.