DiaBeaters at UCLA to host diabetes awareness event

The club DiaBeaters at UCLA will be hosting educational and interactive activities about diabetes Thursday in Bruin Plaza for the second annual Diabetes Day.

This year, DiaBeaters has planned a larger event, receiving financial help from both the UCLA community and local businesses in Westwood, including Bristol Farms, Whole Foods and Coffee Bean, among others, said Megan Cory, one of the club’s co-founders.

The club will be adding games and presenting the information in a more interactive manner, said Kevin Cory, a first-year biochemistry student and co-founder of the club.

DiaBeaters formed last spring and hopes to educate attendees about the prevention and treatment of diabetes.

The club, dedicated to teaching the campus about the disease, will be offering free giveaways, healthy snacks and recipe cards, as well as a free Zumba lesson at noon.

The day will be an opportunity for students and faculty to not only acknowledge the prevalence of diabetes, but also to learn ways to recognize and manage it, Megan Cory said.

Cory, a fourth-year biochemistry student, created the club with Kevin Cory because the disease is becoming more prevalent in the United States and across the world.

Along with her family and friends, Megan Cory organized Diabetes Day last year on campus. At the first event, Cory raised more than $2,000 for the Larry Hillblom Islet Research Center, a UCLA center for diabetes research.

This year, the club received a grant from the Health Campus Initiative, a program committed to funding and providing students with healthy programs. They have also received a grant from the chancellor’s office to run the Beat Diabetes Initiative, a project in the Healthy Campus Initiative.

The club will be providing information through interactive games and poster boards, including statistics on diabetes’ worldwide impact and current research studies that show ways to manage and recognize diabetes.

“We’re hoping to talk to those who come to the event one-on-one about diabetes and their own health,” said Tamara Flores, a fifth-year physiological science student and member of the club. “We want to clarify any kinds of false misconceptions people might have about the limitations about a healthy lifestyle and mainly spread awareness.”

DiaBeaters hopes to continue to hold Diabetes Day over the coming years.

“This event is special to me, because last year, it was just my family and friends contributing,” Megan Cory said. “Now those friends saw the need for our club and this day and decided to form the group with us. It’s amazing how they were inspired to work even harder to make it better this year.”

Diabetes Day will be held on Thursday in Bruin Plaza from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.