For Immediate Release
September 18, 2006

Contact: Anna Beard
(509) 228-6016
anna.beard@asuris.com

Asuris gives $10,000 to fight Juvenile Diabetes
Employees to top corporate sponsorship amount with individual pledges

(Spokane) – The final results aren’t in yet, but it looks like Asuris Northwest Health will top $10,000 in total fundraising efforts for this year’s JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes, held Sept.16 at Spokane’s Riverfront Park.

The Asuris corporate walk team set out to build a team of 10 walkers and raise a combined $1,000 for the walk – then blew those goals out of the water, recruiting a team of more than 20 walkers who gathered $4,892 in donations in the weeks before the walk. That total is expected to exceed $5,000 after late donations are totaled. Those personal donations combined with Asuris’s corporate sponsorship of $5,000, for a total of nearly $10,000 in fundraising to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Overall, the nearly 800 registered walkers and 30 volunteers raised a total of $116,000 to date, said Kay C. Dightman, event manager for the Inland Northwest branch of JDRF.

“This truly was a record-breaking year!” she said.

Asuris employees recruited friends and family to join them in walking the 3-mile course, and had a great time at the event, manning a busy booth and enjoying the sunshine, food and entertainment.

“What an incredible feat for our small office,” Brady Cass, manager of sales and renewals, said.

Three extra ambitious team members were personally responsible for raising more than 50 percent of the team’s total pledges. Those top fund-raisers were Asuris employees Bob Boone and Kathy McCracken, who raised $1,025 and $676 respectively, and Kathy’s friend Samantha Bragg, who totaled $1,600.

About Asuris Northwest Health
Based in Spokane, Asuris Northwest Health offers a full range of health care coverage options, including dental and vision coverage, for Eastern Washington employers and individuals. Asuris also offers Medicare supplemental plans and Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage, and provides member access to more than 19,000 health care providers. For more information, visit the company’s Web site at www.asurisnorthwesthealth.com. Asuris Northwest Health, a not-for-profit health plan, is a subsidiary of Regence BlueShield, a leading health plan in Washington.

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