CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 It\u2019s not Christmas yet, but at one house in Flour Bluff, the boxes are already piling up.<\/p>\n
John and Cheryl Navar have turned their fireplace into a storage space for dozens of Barbie dolls that keep showing up at their front door.<\/p>\n
Corpus Christi couple helps launch \u2018Breakthrough Barbie\u2019 drive for kids with type 1 diabetes<\/p>\n
\u201cSo all the Target stuff is going to start showing up tomorrow along with anything that didn\u2019t show up yet,\u201d Navar said. But these aren\u2019t just any Barbies. They\u2019re the new type 1 diabetes (T1D) Barbie, complete with an insulin pump and glucose monitor.<\/p>\n
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Tony Jaramillo<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when the Barbie came out\u2026 the diabetic Barbie came out, my wife was like, \u2018oh my gosh I love this!,\u2019\u201d Navar said. Navar\u2019s wife, Cheryl, loved the idea for a couple of reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cPartially because she\u2019s like a big-time avid Barbie collector,\u201d Navar said. But more importantly because she is also a pediatric diabetic educator at Driscoll Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe couldn\u2019t take PTO today because she has a kid who\u2019s just been diagnosed with diabetes and she\u2019s in the room right now teaching the kids about all the different things they have to deal with,\u201d Navar said. Those are the same children now in line to receive these Barbies as a special gift. <\/p>\n
What started as a small idea quickly took off.<\/p>\n
\u201cI put it out to a small online Facebook community and some people that mean a lot to me. And I put it out to them and within 24 hours I had double the amount of dolls,\u201d Navar said. <\/p>\n
And the donations keep growing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt got big enough that we set up a Venmo and Cash App for donations and we broke them. There were too many donations and too big of numbers happening,\u201d Navar said. The Navars later set up this GoFundMe<\/a> to continue bringing more dolls to more kids.<\/p>\n \u201cAs we sit we can deliver several hundred to each of the major endo[crinology] clinics,\u201d Navar said. So far, they\u2019ve raised enough money and\/or donations to give away about 1,000 Barbies. Their goal is to get these T1D Barbies to as many kids as possible. <\/p>\n But for John Navar, the mission is about more than toys.<\/p>\n \u201cI think everyone can live by the second commandment. Love your neighbor as yourself. I think we\u2019re at a point in our nation where we need to start dumping love in everywhere we can,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n The couple hopes the movement inspires others and maybe even catches the attention of Mattel to create a T1D Ken doll as well.<\/p>\n For the latest local news updates, click here<\/a>, or download the KRIS 6 News App. <\/a><\/p>\n