A Nanaimo businesswoman has been named Volunteer of the Year for her work raising money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Canada.
Jacqui Kaese, an acting coach for film and television, has helped raise more than $1 million to benefit the foundation.
Kaese hosted the fifth annual Women’s Whyne Festival and alongside her husband, Trent Kaese, organized the fifth annual Gala of Hope at Tigh-Na-Mara Resort and Spa and the ninth annual Cottonwood Shots for Kids golf tournament.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas.
JDRF Canada funds research to cure type 1 diabetes and help treat the disease’s complications.
For more information about the foundation, please go to jdrf.ca.