Youth Venture

Jesse and Nick’s venture - ayuda

the IDEA
• Create a support group for children with diabetes in
Ecuador and other parts of Latin America.
• A youth-led education and advocacy program.

IMPACT
• Provided over $2 million in donated diabetes
supplies and professional medical services to Ecuador.
• Established a national diabetes camping
program, Campo Amigo Ecuador, serving
over 600 youth.
• Brought together over 15 Countries to

Nick and Jesse, two American teenagers, established

AYUDA (American Youth Understanding Diabetes Abroad) in 1996.
Jesse and Nick witnessed firsthand the hardships associated with
diabetes when the son of a family friend, who suffered from the
disease came to stay at Jesse’s house. After he received treatment
he returned home and became very ill again due to the lack of medi-
cal support in his community. When he returned for his second stay,
he was close to death. Jesse and Nick decided something had to be
done. They created AYUDA to address the needs of children suffering
with this controllable disease. Today, AYUDA, a 501(c)3 registered
charitable organization, raises awareness and promotes diabetes
treatment and education in communities throughout the Americas.

By using youth as agents for change they create and strengthen self-
sustaining diabetes organizations. They empower youth with diabetes
to develop and lead educational, medical, recreational, and advocacy
programs; increase international awareness of diabetes; and work
“JUNTOS SOMOS MAS
FUERTES”
with communities and families to fight the stigma associated with
the condition. Many children’s lives have been saved due to Nick and
Jesse’s Campo Amigo, where children learn to give themselves injec-
tions and receive free medical help. Various members of the com- (Together We are Strong)
munity are brought together for these camps in an effort to decrease
the stigma associated with diabetes that keeps so many parents from
actively seeking help for their child’s disease.

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