Every year, generous sponsors, donors, ambassador families, students and celebrities join thousands of people across the country in support of the March of Dimes mission.
Our corporate partners and sponsors are a big part of the success of March for Babies. In 2009, they raised $75 million of the $100 million total. Thank you to our Top 10 company teams: Kmart, Farmers Insurance Group, Citi, Publix Super Markets, Inc., CIGNA, Bank of America, FedEx, Wells Fargo & Company, Famous Footwear and Knowledge Learning Corporation. Kmart, our number one supporter, has been a top partner for 26 years. Kmart customers and associates raised an astounding $8.3 million in 2009.
Also gearing up for 2010 were our first-ever national March for Babies® co-chairs: Ford’s Alan Mulally and UAW’s Ron Gettelfinger. The two auto-industry greats kicked off the campaign at the March of Dimes annual Volunteer Leadership Conference in October. They’ve committed their organizations to raising a million dollars towards the $100 million goal.
National Ambassador Katelyn Hall, from Leesburg, Va., traveled the country in 2009 with her parents, Ashley and Michael, to share the story of her premature birth. Born at 25 weeks, weighing less than a pound, she was given a 5 percent chance of survival.
Katelyn pulled through, and Ashley says, “She wouldn’t be alive today without the March of Dimes.” That’s why the Halls continue to raise awareness of the problem of premature birth and why they have been raising money for the March of Dimes since 2004. They hope to raise a million dollars — the cost of Katelyn’s medical care — so that other families won’t have to go through what they did.
“We can’t imagine life without Katelyn,” says Michael, “and we can’t imagine life without the March of Dimes.
In 2009, student members of the Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda raised an amazing half a million dollars in March for Babies. The student business organization has been a top youth partner for more than three decades and also gets involved in campus and community activities and Prematurity Awareness Month®. As the number one school in 2009, Wakill Valley Regional High School, from Hamburg, New Jersey, hosted a lock-in event and raised $20,000 to help babies.
March of Dimes top volunteers at the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority raised a combined $440,000 in March for Babies. Through Project Alpha, held in November, the Alpha Phi Alphas help educate young men on teen pregnancy and create awareness of the serious problem of premature birth. The Zeta Phi Betas work with the March of Dimes to educate and encourage low-income pregnant women to get prenatal care. The Stork’s Nest® program reaches women in more than 150 locations throughout the country. During Prematurity Awareness Month, Zeta volunteers reached out to families in places of worship.
Healthy babies is serious business
