My wife Petra and I have gotten involved with JDRF, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, specifically the Western Wisconsin chapter. In addition to lots of other fundraising events, JDRF hosts several bike rides each year, including one in Whitefish, Montana, and one in Death Valley, California. The riders raise money in order to participate in the ride. The rides are fun and raise lots of money for JDRF.

Petra and I sponsored the bike jerseys for Team Western Wisconsin this year, and Michelle Alswager, the executive director, asked what we wanted printed on them. So of course we chose Sharendipity (what else would we put on there?) Other than our business cards, this is the first item with the Sharendipity name and logo, and several times this summer I’ve seen bikers in Madison wearing the jerseys!

The Whitefish ride just concluded, and was a big success. A picture of the riders (in their Sharendipity jerseys) is below.

Juvenile Diabetes, today more commonly referred to as Type 1 Diabetes, affects children (and adults) who require complicated insulin management for life, and are at constant risk of serious complications. JDRF funds research and programs for families coping with the disease.

Consider getting involved in JDRF by sponsoring a rider (maybe Petra or Michelle for the Death Valley ride), or by participating in other JDRF events.

We released an alpha version of Sharendipity out into the wild today… This is a big event for us. Over the last several months, we’ve had friends and family play with our creation. The feedback has been very positive. But it isn’t until it gets out into the hands of a diverse group of people that you really begin to learn about your progress.

We’re anxious to get feedback from real consumers. We expect to learn a lot, but we’re also hopeful that our new community will help drive our priorities to make sure we build the right features.

This is a pretty limited release, but we will eventually grow the alpha group as time goes by. If you’d like to be included in this, please drop us a note.