ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation or JDRF raised more than $24,000 as part of the area’s “One Walk” to raise awareness and fight for a cure for type 1 diabetes. 

“The main goal is to fund the research required to treat, prevent, and hopefully eventually cure type 1 Diabetes," organizer Anna Passero said.

On Saturday, JDRF held its Charlottesville-area community walk to raise money to help further research and find a cure for type 1 diabetes. 

With an original goal of raising $20,000, Charlottesville blew that goal out of the water, raising nearly $25,000 by the start of the event. Passero says these funds are going to make a difference. 

“They are funding research. So different doctors, hospitals, organizations that are working to treat, prevent and hopefully cure type 1 diabetes," Passero said.

Passero has a personal connection to the disease, which inspired her to organize the JDRF “One Walk.” 

“My husband has been a type 1 diabetic for over 35 years and our little one, Griffin, was diagnosed two years ago at the age of two," she said.

And Passero says the disease has a big impact on their family’s day-to-day lives.

“It requires a lot of daily maintenance. Constant insulin, carb counting, and a lot of activity monitoring. It has a huge, huge impact on their lives and is a very misunderstood disease,” Passero said. 

While the JDRF focuses on research and finding a cure, Passero says there is so much more to the organization. 

"They love to host these kinds of events, family support groups, things like that, just to build a bigger sense of community around the disease,” Passero said. 

Throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, the JDRF says it has raised more than $1.3 million to go toward type 1 diabetes research, and more than $30 million nationwide.