Three years ago, Tom Augustine's daughter Alainna was diagnosed with juvenile (type 1) diabetes. While educating himself about the disease, he learned that with enough resources, a cure for this disease could be discovered in our lifetime. Wanting his daughter to know that he's doing everything he can to help find a cure, Tom looked for a way to draw as much attention and support as he could to this cause. He was inspired by Lance Armstrong's Live Strong wristbands, and Seth Godin's book, Purple Cow. He wanted to find the "next big thing," a purple cow that would increase awareness of the hope surrounding the cure for diabetes.
Tom knew that almost all charities have a run or a walk and found a commonality in the pervasiveness of shoe laces. He designed lacelets, small accessories that you wear on the laces of your shoes, which are inscribed with the message "Within Reach." The phrase references the potential of finding a cure for diabetes, but is so inspirational that many people use them as a reminder of their own personal goals.
There are now over 300,000 lacelets worn all over the world. Talk about globe-trotting - all the professional basketball players in New Zealand wear lacelets! This is still just the beginning. Tom is looking for major retailers to help by offering lacelets in their stores and trying to find other creative ways to bring lacelets to everyone.
We salute his remarkable efforts to help with the search for a cure. Especially since those efforts don't end with lacelets. When Tom heard about the authors of The Big Moo donating part of the proceeds from the book to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, he offered his help by designing this website. Tom has learned a great deal from his work with lacelets and said it's "the most rewarding thing I've ever done in my entire life. This shows that everybody has the power to make a difference."
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