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| CARING -- OUR WAY OF LIFE |
March of Dimes
March of Dimes
Spring Seasons of Service
March of Dimes was first initiated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938 to help find a cure for polio. Over the next twelve years, the organization collected over $1 million dollars, which helped researchers isolate three types of polio viruses and find a vaccine for them. In 1954, March of Dimes gave polio vaccines to nearly two million schoolchildren. This began as a campaign to help children, and has now evolved to fighting premature birth.
Every eighth baby born in the U.S. is born premature. That adds up to 1400 babies a day and over half a million yearly. No one knows why this happens, but we do know that it is serious and its consequences can be deadly. March of Dimes has two main goals in its campaign to help fight premature birth:
1) The organization hopes to raise awareness of premature birth to 60% of all women of childbearing age and to 50% of the general public by 2010.
2) March of Dimes hopes to reduce the percentage of premature births from 12.1% in 2002 to 7.6% in 2010.
These babies deserve a chance to live—a chance to laugh and smile and experience life like we all do.
Spring Seasons of Service
March of Dimes was first initiated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938 to help find a cure for polio. Over the next twelve years, the organization collected over $1 million dollars, which helped researchers isolate three types of polio viruses and find a vaccine for them. In 1954, March of Dimes gave polio vaccines to nearly two million schoolchildren. This began as a campaign to help children, and has now evolved to fighting premature birth.
Every eighth baby born in the U.S. is born premature. That adds up to 1400 babies a day and over half a million yearly. No one knows why this happens, but we do know that it is serious and its consequences can be deadly. March of Dimes has two main goals in its campaign to help fight premature birth:
1) The organization hopes to raise awareness of premature birth to 60% of all women of childbearing age and to 50% of the general public by 2010.
2) March of Dimes hopes to reduce the percentage of premature births from 12.1% in 2002 to 7.6% in 2010.
These babies deserve a chance to live—a chance to laugh and smile and experience life like we all do.
--Spread awareness about March of Dimes and the problems associated with premature birth. Talk to your middle school, put up posters in your high school (visit marchofdimesyouth.com for a Kelly Clarkson March of Dimes poster), talk about it on video announcements, speak to a church group, publish an article in a newsletter or newspaper, speak at a radio station…etc. Get more people aware about premature birth and how they can help.
1) Another idea to spread awareness is to send an email to ten people you know, and ask them to forward the email to ten more people so that a chain of awareness is formed. This can also be done with letters.
2) Set up a booth at a local event and distribute brochures, bracelets, ribbons, and other visual aids. Decorate your table with blue and pink tablecloth (March of Dimes colors) and display a doll to show how small a premature baby really is.
1) Another idea to spread awareness is to send an email to ten people you know, and ask them to forward the email to ten more people so that a chain of awareness is formed. This can also be done with letters.
2) Set up a booth at a local event and distribute brochures, bracelets, ribbons, and other visual aids. Decorate your table with blue and pink tablecloth (March of Dimes colors) and display a doll to show how small a premature baby really is.
--Ask students in school to donate their spare change. Then, on a designated day (November 14th, Prematurity Awareness day may be a cool idea), take all collected coins to participating stores with March Coinstar caravans. (For a complete list of locations, visit http://marchofdimes.com/pad/centers.asp). On the Coinstar main menu, select donation, and enter March of Dimes code #1230, then pour in your coins, which will all be donated to March of Dimes. Don’t forget to take your receipt of a tax reduction!
--Pick a day, such as Premature Awareness Day, November 14th, for students to wear March of Dimes colors pink and blue to school. (Including the guys!)
--Join WalkAmerica 2007, a yearly walk to help raise money for the cause. Sign up for the walk as an individual, or form a team with your school or community at www.walkamerica.org. Then contact your local chapter to receive materials on how to get started as far as raising money goes. Set a goal for the amount that you want to raise, and not only ask anyone you know, but also ask them to forward your message to other friends and co-workers.
--Volunteer during a walk by helping with registration, coordination, and cleaning up.
--Sell March of Dimes products such as bracelets, bands, ribbons, and stuffed animals
--Help find individual, group and company sponsors willing to donate to March of Dimes.
--Spread the word about March of Dimes! Educate other teens about the importance of a healthy lifestyle so that when they have kids, the chances of having a baby born premature are diminished. For more information, visit www.marchofdimes.com/youth and check out the teen-2-teen presentation video on promoting a healthy lifestyle.
--Make little packages for local medical centers that include information about March of Dimes, and posters encouraging women to take folic acid during childbearing years, as well as ribbons and bands to help women learn about premature birth. These packages could also be distributed at a booth at a local event.
--Fundraise for “March of Dimes” in your school. Also, included in the spring Key Club mailings are “March of Dimes” flyers. Wrap those flyers around cans and place in each classroom as well at the lunch counter so that students may donate their spare change. To encourage donations, reward the winning classroom(s) with pizza parties or donuts.
--Pick a day, such as Premature Awareness Day, November 14th, for students to wear March of Dimes colors pink and blue to school. (Including the guys!)
--Join WalkAmerica 2007, a yearly walk to help raise money for the cause. Sign up for the walk as an individual, or form a team with your school or community at www.walkamerica.org. Then contact your local chapter to receive materials on how to get started as far as raising money goes. Set a goal for the amount that you want to raise, and not only ask anyone you know, but also ask them to forward your message to other friends and co-workers.
--Volunteer during a walk by helping with registration, coordination, and cleaning up.
--Sell March of Dimes products such as bracelets, bands, ribbons, and stuffed animals
--Help find individual, group and company sponsors willing to donate to March of Dimes.
--Spread the word about March of Dimes! Educate other teens about the importance of a healthy lifestyle so that when they have kids, the chances of having a baby born premature are diminished. For more information, visit www.marchofdimes.com/youth and check out the teen-2-teen presentation video on promoting a healthy lifestyle.
--Make little packages for local medical centers that include information about March of Dimes, and posters encouraging women to take folic acid during childbearing years, as well as ribbons and bands to help women learn about premature birth. These packages could also be distributed at a booth at a local event.
--Fundraise for “March of Dimes” in your school. Also, included in the spring Key Club mailings are “March of Dimes” flyers. Wrap those flyers around cans and place in each classroom as well at the lunch counter so that students may donate their spare change. To encourage donations, reward the winning classroom(s) with pizza parties or donuts.