![](https://www.bassmaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/pipkens-golf.jpg)
WILLIAMSTON, Mich. — Bassmaster Elite Series angler Chad Pipkens was on the golf course Monday raising money for a great cause. The Douglas J Golf Outing benefiting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has raised over $1 million to help combat type 1 diabetes through their charity tournament, silent auction and fundraising dinner over the past 20 years. JDRF is the leading global type 1 diabetes (T1D) research and advocacy organization.
Up for auction this year is a fishing trip for two on Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair with Pipkens. Along with the day’s outing, Pipkens will be supplying all of the tackle, rods and reels needed to take on these world-class smallmouth fisheries.
“It’s great when you can surround yourself with good people and be able to be part of an awesome company that gives back in so many ways,” said Pipkens, who has been part of the fundraising event for 10 years.
Douglas J President Scott Weaver has been a champion of JDRF for more than two decades after his daughter Sami became the youngest person in Michigan to be diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at just 18 months old. Weaver’s nephew was also diagnosed just a few years later.
According to JDRF, about 200,000 youth (less than 20 years old) and 1.4 million adults in America are living with T1D, with 64,000 people being diagnosed each year in the U.S. Since 1970, the foundation has contributed more than $2B to T1D research and is currently funding more than 70 human clinical trials of potential T1D therapies.
To make a donation to the Douglas J Golf Outing benefiting JDRF, visit douglasj.com/jdrf.