Cherokee Elementary School students are jump roping to raise money for the American Diabetes Association. At the Feb. 1 kickoff for the month-long fundraiser, teams of Cherokee Elementary students led by school coaches showed off some dazzling jumping skills with individual jump roping, Double Dutch, and various tricks of agility. The students meet before school two and three times a week to hone their skills.

“What are we fighting for”” the coaches asked the students at the fundraising kickoff.

“DIABETES!!!” the students would reply with a deafening roar.

The goal this year is to raise $17,000 in the fight to find a cure for diabetes.

Prizes will be given to students who raise various levels of money. Prizes included T-shirts, water bottles, jump ropes, basketballs, backpacks, bikes, CD players, gift cards and a huge inflatable jungle gym. The Cherokee Elementary student who raises the highest amount gets to splat a pie in the assistant principal’s face.

More than 20 million Americans have diabetes, a group of diseases marked by irregular blood sugar levels in the body. When the body is unable to regulate its insulin production, a person with diabetes may be at risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, pregnancy complications, dental disease, blindness and death.

Nearly a quarter of a million Americans died from complications of diabetes in 2002, and in that same year, diabetes accounted for $132 billion in health care costs in the U.S. — about one out of every $10 spent on health care. About 1.5 million new cases of diabetes were diagnosed last year among Americans 20 years old and older. Native Americans are more than twice as likely to get diabetes as non-Hispanic whites, according to figures from the American Diabetes Foundation.

For more information about the fund-raising event, contact Cherokee Elementary School at 828.497.9130.