At the beginning of the year, we had great times with families at the Airtime Trampoline Park, Kalahari and watching the Walleye shut out the Wheeling Nailers. We hosted our first ever Designer Purse Bingo selling out all 250 tickets and having a lot of fun raising money for DYS. Then, Covid-19 forced us to retreat to our homes and I believe it has deepened the importance of staying connected. DYS shifted our focus to social media where we supplied endless posts on community resources, home schooling tips and memes that provided much-needed laughs. Our program coordinator Morgan McCullough and her mom Nurse Patty McCullough hosted a Facebook Live show on Thursday nights. We attempted to call or text all of our families to stay connected and check-in to see if they had everything they needed. Several of our camp nurses along with Morgan wrote letters to last year’s campers and provided them with either book marks or a phone credit card holder. Then the DYS Board of Directors made the very difficult decision to cancel summer camp and we quickly shifted to hosting our Big Shots and Middle Shots camp online. We learned the intricacies of Zoom and sent each camper a box filled with a Camp Connection t-shirt, a DYS journal, a chapter book, craft supplies, a card to write to a newly diagnosed camper, a Walk-a-Thon form, snacks, s’mores kits , a Lilly backpack, ProMedica water bottle/lip balm and Novo Nordisk shoe laces and pen case. Everyone had a great time seeing their friends; making crafts; and participating in our camp fire, via the green screen, while eating s’mores, watching the talent show and singing good old campfire songs! In July, we hosted our Little Shots and other families at The Toledo Zoo including free parking, Zoo admittance, a Zoo presentation and lunch. As we head into the fall, we have several events planned including our annual school conference on August 7 ^th and the 2020 Connection Gala on November 13 ^th at The Renaissance Hotel in downtown Toledo. We hope you will plan to join us to celebrate with the DYS family and raise necessary funds for 2021. DYS’ mission is to walk alongside those youth living with T1D, their family, school and community. During the last few months when things have not gone as planned for anyone, where doubt and anxiety have crept into our lives, DYS has done its best to stay connected with our families and provide them with support, mementos and a few laughs.