JDRF hosts first “Black tie & Boxing” fundraiser

DOWNTOWN JACKSON, Tenn. — West Tennesseans gathered in the hub city Saturday night to sit ringside around an MMA fighting ring, all for a good cause.

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation chapter in Jackson hosted the first Black Tie & Boxing fundraiser at the Carl Perkins Civic Center.

The event uniquely combined a black-tie dinner with a series of live kickboxing and MMA matches.

JDRF Reports as many as three million Americans are diagnosed with type one diabetes.

Rachel Ryan, who served as a chairman of the fundraiser, said she knows first hand how diabetes can affect a person’s lifestyle.

“Its a chronic disease and they have to live with the daily struggle of that,” she said.

Her nephew was diagnosed with type one at age six.

All money raised at the event will benefit JDRF, which is a foundation organizers said they are trying to bring more awareness to.

“I think a lot of people get confused about what type one and what type two is,” Ryan said. “A lot of these children and adults don’t have a choice in their lifestyle and diet.”

Organizers saidone of the goals of the event was to distinguish the difference between the two types.

“Type two is generally caused by lifestyle, and type one just comes out of nowhere,” Russ Ellis, director of the West Tenn. JDRF chapter said.

Kids and adults affected with the disease were honored throughout the night.

“I want them to have fun, to enjoy the night and to remember we are raising money for type one diabetes,” Ryan said.

The West Tenn. JDRF chapter said they were happy with the turn out, and hope to make Black Tie & Boxing an annual event.