Westporter to Represent State at 2013 Children's Congress

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Fairfield County chapter will be sending a unique delegate to Washington, D.C. this week. Westporter Harrison Zuckerberg, 11, has been selected by JDRF to join 150 other children from around the country to remind members of Congress of the need to continue supporting research that aims to reduce the burden they all share -- living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) -- until a cure becomes available.

Zuckerberg was diagnosed with T1D when he was 3. 

Children ages 4 - 17 representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia will visit the nation’s capital as delegates of the JDRF 2013 Children’s Congress Monday, July 8, through Wednesday, July 10, according to a release from JDRF. Joining them will be six international delegates traveling from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Israel, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The international delegates will partner with U.S. delegates to tell Congress that T1D is "a global problem that requires a global effort," the foundation states. 

The event, held every other summer since 1999, will be led by JDRF International Chairman Mary Tyler Moore, and will include congressional visits by the delegates and a Senate hearing, during which Moore and select delegates and advocates will testify on the need for continued funding for T1D research. The hearing's theme “Promise to Remember Me” is meant to serve as a call to lawmakers to remember the struggle of living with the disease, and the importance of supporting and funding T1D research. 

“These outstanding children and their families all understand, as I do, that type 1 diabetes tests us every day,” Moore, who has had T1D for more than 40 years, said. “Children’s Congress gives all of us a voice to urge Congress to increase its support of research, which is essential to reducing the burden of this disease on us and on our country.”

Moore congratulated Zuckerberg on being selected to this summer's Children's Congress. 

"We can’t think of anyone more deserving of this tremendous honor and know he will represent us well. Harrison has been a standout young volunteer for years and his involvement with many chapter activities, as well as his undeniable leadership and maturities have led him to this point."

For a video of highlights from the 2011 Children’s Congress, click here.