It’s that time again! Last year International Diabetes T-Shirt Day was a big success, but I know we can do better. This year let’s make more tees, and let’s all wear them on November 14th, which just so happens to be World Diabetes Day. Let the world—or your coworkers or gym peeps or friends or strangers or whoever—know that you’re part of Team Pancreas.
There are a bunch of different ways that you can participate. Well, okay, I can think of three ways.
You can wear a diabetes-themed T-shirt that you got at an ADA, JDRF, or IDF event. Let your advocacy shine. You can also buy a shirt . . . online naturally. Some of these stores even donate the profits to organizations that do things for those of us with this little disease.
But the real fun is making your own. All it takes is an idea, a few craft supplies, and an hour or two. It’s good family fun, and when you’re done you can look at your creation with extra pride.
“Jeff, how do I make my own T-shirt?” I hear you asking. It’s easy, and it all starts at your local craft store. If your store is anything like the one in my town, you’ll find everything you need, from colorful, blank T-shirts to iron-on letters and patches to this special stuff that you can use to draw designs and write messages.
And, if you have a computer and inkjet printer, you can fire up Photoshop, make as fancy of a design as you can imagine, and print it out on iron-on transfer paper (also available at the craft store). One hot iron and a few minutes later, voilà! you’ve got your own fancy-pants DiabeTee. What? No printer? No worries; you can upload your design to a place like CafePress, which will print your design for you.
So are you ready? Great! You have 33 days left to make your shirt before November 14.
And don’t ever underestimate the power of a simple T-shirt.
p.s. — I have about a half-billion things on my mind that I want to write about. (For example, see the photos above.) Seems like it’s feast or famine around this here weblog. So I’m going to start with the most time-bound issues. I hope not to let y’all down and post the rest of everything here in the coming days.
