The Long Island Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Is Asking Suffolk County Residents To Put On Their Walking Shoes For A Good Cause. BABYLON, NY. September 20, 2006 — For the eleventh straight year, the JDRF is holding its annual "Walk For The Cure" on October 1 at Belmont Lake State Park in Babylon. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., and the walk starts at 10 a.m. Walkers will walk a five-kilometer course around the lake.Last year’s walk had 4,000 participants and raised $1.2 million for diabetes research. "We should be having more [walkers] this year," said Long Island’s JDRF Executive Director Barbara Rogus, adding that the foundation is looking to raise $1.5 million for this year’s walk.Rogus said all of the money raised goes to research. According to a press release from the Long Island Chapter of the JDRF, the organization has provided more than $1 billion in direct funding to Type 1 — also known as juvenile — diabetes. In a typical year, 85% of JDRF’s expenditures directly support research and research-related education."The money doesn’t come in $20,000 or $30,000 at a time," she said. "These people [raising money] are families of people affected by diabetes. They’re raising money through lemonade stands and car washes. We have one little girl who is making and selling bracelets. There are so many people involved."Walkers have signed up family members and friends to sponsor them for this event. "We’d like to have each walker raise $100, but [on average], it winds up being more than that," Rogus said.Although the walk has been held on Long Island for 11 years, the JDRF has held the walk throughout the world for the past 20 years and, according to Rogus, the walks themselves have raised $80 million a year worldwide. "That’s a really big event on our calendar," she said. "We’re looking to raise $90 million this year and $100 million next year."Besides the walk, there will be children’s entertainment such as clowns, face painting and a bouncing house. "This has turned into a family event because of the picnic area [in the park]," Rogus said. "People bring their lunches and spend time at the park, which is really neat."This year’s corporate sponsors include Abbott Diabetes Care, Better Living Now, Citibank, ADP, Entenmann’s, MSC Industrial Supply Co., North Fork Bank, Racanelli Construction Co., Inc., Bethpage Federal Credit Union, Briggs & Riley Travelware, Estée Lauder, Hoffmann & Baron, LLP, Solo, Symbol Technologies, Genatt Associates, Inc., Same Day Bath and State Bank of Long Island.Rogus called the Walk For The Cure "the Long Island Chapter’s most important fundraiser. It’s fun for everybody," she said. "It’s for a great cause." For more information, call 414-1126 or visit www.jdrf.org.