Yellowknife (Nov 03/04) - November is Diabetes Month, so it's time to get out those wallets to help find a cure.

And after last spring's record-breaking fundraising walk -- which raised $28,191 -- organizers hope Yellowknifers will help make November's second annual sneaker sale an equal success.

Nicholas Dittrich, age 2, was recently diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. He hopes Yellowknifers will buy these paper sneakers to help raise money for research. - Joyce MacDonald/NNSL photo

Starting this past Monday and running all throughout the month, select Yellowknife businesses will sell paper sneakers for $1 apiece, with all proceeds going to help those with juvenile diabetes.

"I'd like to sell a thousand (sneakers) this year," Lee-Ann Dittrich, who initiated the event, said of her goal to beat last year's total of 700.

Nation-wide, the goal is one million.

Although statistics show diabetes is less prevalent in the NWT than across the country, close to 850 adults around the territory were afflicted with the disease in 2000. That translates into 2.9 per cent of the population at the time.

Nation-wide, 200,000 Canadians are afflicted with type 1 diabetes, the majority of which are children.

Although a juvenile diabetes centre does not exist in the NWT, all funds collected will go to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in Edmonton, Dittrich said.

"This benefits everyone in the North," she said, explaining that NWT children are sent to the University of Alberta for treatment.

Dittrich and her family became involved with the campaign a little over a year ago after her two-year-old son Nicholas was diagnosed with type 1 juvenile diabetes.

"That's when it really hit home," she said.

When Francis Chang, managing director of Body Works, learned of Nicholas' diagnosis, he decided to get involved in the campaign as well.

"My son is a friend of her (Dittrich) daughter," he said, noting his club members are supportive.

Anyone wishing to make a donation can purchase a sneaker at Body Works, Essentials, Shoppers Drug Mart or NorthwesTel Cable.