Jaime and Andy Norris, two Glen Ridge brothers with Type 1 Diabetes, are using their time and talents to change the future for people with the life-threatening autoimmune disease.

The boys on Saturday participated in the JDRF Ride to Cure Diabetes in Saratoga Springs, New York, with the goal of raising more than $15,000 for research to find a cure. And this summer, Jaime, a freshman at St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, and Andy, a 6th grader at Montclair Kimberly Academy, traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with congressional leaders as volunteers for JDRF Children’s Congress.

The two, supported by their parents, Alisa and Toby Norris, have also raised funds to support JDRF through the JDRF One Walk in Jersey City for the past eight years. The family has worked to raise awareness of the disease and has raised nearly $200,000 through the JDRF New Jersey Metro and Rockland County Chapter.

Both boys were diagnosed with the disease in 2008 — Jaime at the age of four and Andy at the age of three. T1D occurs when the body’s immune system attacks and destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. While its causes are not entirely understood, scientists believe both genetic factors and environmental triggers are involved. Its onset has nothing to do with diet or lifestyle. There is no cure.

Both boys must check their blood sugar as often as 15 times a day and they require precise injections of insulin throughout the day to stay alive. Yet even the most vigilant efforts to keep blood sugar at normal levels can fail to prevent T1D complications, such as blindness, kidney disease and heart disease. Sleep can be anxiety-filled for parents of children with the disease because that’s often when dangerous, potentially catastrophic low-blood-sugar episodes can occur. Continue Reading

Looking for an after-school activity that offers a safe space for girls to learn skills and be physically active? Girls on the Run offers this and so much more.

With more than 200,000 girls participating nationwide each year, Girls on the Run is an after-school activity that is far more than a running program. A recent study provides evidence that Girls on the Run is highly effective at helping girls in 3rd through 5th grades (ages 8 to 11) increase their physical activity while teaching critical life skills they can use at home, at school, and in their community. In fact, 97 percent of girls said that participating in Girls on the Run helped them learn to manage emotions, resolve conflicts, make intentional decisions, or help others.

Girls on the Run of New Jersey East is a nonprofit organization that serves more than 2,000 girls in Essex, Morris, Union, Burlington, and Mercer Counties each year. Its mission is to inspire girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident. The program’s intentional curriculum places an emphasis on developing competence, confidence, connection, character, caring, and contribution in young girls through lessons that incorporate running and other physical activities. Throughout the course of the 10-week program, girls learn critical life skills including managing emotions, resolving conflict, helping others, and making intentional decisions. It is the combination of the research-based curriculum, trained coaches, and a commitment to serve all girls that sets Girls on the Run apart from other after-school programs.

The independent study was conducted by Maureen R. Weiss, Ph.D, a leading expert on youth development. “Girls on the Run participants scored higher in managing emotions, resolving conflict, helping others, and making intentional decisions than participants in organized sport or physical education,” confirms Weiss. “Being able to generalize skills learned in the program to other situations such as at school or at home is a distinguishing feature of Girls on the Run compared to traditional youth sports and school physical education, and suggests that the intentional life skills curriculum and coach-training program can serve as exemplars for other youth programs.”

For more information about fall registration for Girls on the Run, visit girlsontherunnj.org.

Do your kids love horses? The Bergen Equestrian Center at Overpeck Park in Leonia offers after school programs for boys and girls 7–13 years old (no horse experience necessary). Students will learn about horses, grooming, equipment and how to prepare for riding. Students will have the opportunity to ride horses with a specially tailored lesson to match their ability and experience.

Activities for students also include fun filled afternoons playing games, painting horse shows, barn scavenger hunts, and making horse centric arts and crafts.

For more information, visit bergenequestrian.com, 201.336.3370 or email at [email protected]