Leaders of traditionally black churches are invited to a brunch event Saturday to get involved in an American Diabetes Association program designed to educate people about how to prevent and manage diabetes.

This will be the second year of the Project POWER Diabetes Education Program, which is funded by a grant from the Obici Healthcare Foundation. The program recruits volunteers in churches with predominantly black congregations, because black people have a higher risk of developing diabetes. The volunteers are trained on how to teach about the topics of healthy eating, risk factors and symptoms, medications and other subjects related to the management and prevention of diabetes.

The volunteers then collect people from their churches to participate in a multi-week course where they learn more about diabetes.

In last year’s program, about 53 percent of the overall participants were diabetic or pre-diabetic, said Lawrence Lambert, manager for mission delivery and community outreach for the local American Diabetes Association chapter.

Participants in last year’s program said they were able to learn more about diabetes and even get their sugar levels down through the help of the program.

The event will be held Saturday, Jan. 19, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn, 100 E. Constance Road.

The guest speaker will be Dr. Joseph Aloi from Eastern Virginia Medical School, and the event will also include health screenings and a Martin Luther King Jr. tribute.

Seating is limited, so those hoping to attend should RSVP as soon as possible to 424-6662 ext. 3277 or llambert@diabetes.org.