Each work day, 43-year-old Marcus Johnson walks seven blocks from his Downtown home to his job as a project control scheduler at Pb Americas on Bishop Street and back. And every day, no matter how tempting, he swallows deep and says no to as many starches, sugars and carbohydrates as he can resist.

It's not a regimen he would necessarily have chosen for himself, but neither would he have chosen to develop diabetes.

Johnson was one of more than 3,000 participants in what turned out to be a surprisingly successful "Step Out Walk to Fight Diabetes" fundraiser yesterday for the American Diabetes Association's Hawai'i Chapter.

Despite grim economic forecasts, the association surpassed its fundraising goal of $500,000 for the event, thanks in part to a surge in participation and a record number of corporate sponsors.

ADA Hawai'i executive director Majken Mechling said walk organizers anticipated that the economy would limit the amount each participant would be able to raise. To offset the difference, they concentrated on drawing more walkers to participate.

Last year, some 2,400 walkers helped to raise $450,000, according to Mechling.

"In our community, diabetes affects so many people," Mechling said. "Everybody knows somebody with diabetes, so this is a cause that is close to everybody's heart."

That's especially true for the students and faculty of Kaimuki High School, where a recent survey found that two out of every five students had a family member with diabetes, lived with someone who had the disease, or had it themselves. That figure is roughly twice the national average.

Yesterday, principal Penelope Tom and several teachers joined nearly 90 students at Kapi'olani Park for the 2.3-mile walk.

"It's definitely in our community," said Kaleolani Akim, the school's peer education coordinator. "Our school is predominantly low-income, and a high percentage of our student population is Polynesian and Asian, which this disease significantly affects."

Dozens of organizations showed their support with significant donations and with large contingents of walkers. Mayor Mufi Hannemann led about 150 city and county workers around the course. Times Supermarkets was prominent with more than 200 walkers clad in neon-green T-shirts. And The Queen's Health Systems accounted for 500 walkers and $75,000 in donations.

Johnson and his 17-member Pb Americas team, the Hawai'i Speed Crawlers, raised $3,500 to go along with a $10,000 donation from the company.

"It was fun," Johnson said. "And the fact that all the donations stay in Hawai'i was a big selling point."