How can you get involved?
Volunteer: Student volunteers are needed for greeting teams, registration, food, set up and clean up (clean up would be helping get down tables, trash retrieval, helping bring down banners and signs).
March: Get a team together, pledge money and march
Click here to register your team
To sign up to be a volunteer for the event contact Elizabeth Tollefson at etollefson@marchofdimes.org
Every four and a half minutes, a baby is born with a birth defect in the United States.
That means nearly 120,000 babies are affected by birth defects each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
One nonprofit organization is working to fight those statistics by improving the health of mothers and babies.
The March of Dimes is a U.S. nonprofit organization designed to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality, according to marchofdimes.org. The organization has led the way to discover the genetic causes of birth defects, to promote newborn screening and to educate medical professionals and the public about best practices for healthy pregnancy.
One way March of Dimes works to help babies is by hosting marches across the nation.
March of Dimes will host the 2016 March for Babies East Central walk, rain or shine, May 1 at LaFollette Field at Ball State University.
The route begins at John E. Worthen Arena and moves through campus for approximately three miles.
The walk and all activities of the day will be free. Families, companies and student groups are encouraged to form walk teams and pledge money to help local moms and babies, said Elizabeth Tollefson, March for Babies Coordinator.
The event is family-friendly and will feature kid zone areas with bounce houses, a carnival and games, along with tents for mothers to receive advice and tips for healthy pregnancies. It will also feature a mission check area to honor the families and babies who have been lost or born premature because of birth defects, Tollefson said.
The community has been very open and supportive in preparation of the march, she said.
“We have had lots of help from local families and companies like Navient Corp., Meridian Health Services and the Dollar General who donated water for the event,” Tollefson said. “The community has always had very open arms and because of that, I have been thrilled to be head of this walk. I am a Ball State alum so it is so nice to come back to the community and see everyone come together and help out.”
Tollefson said she hopes the march will help people realize that this is a local issue.
“One in 10 babies in the United States is born prematurely,” Tollefson said. “Indiana, specifically as of 2014, just got a D on our report card for that. Here, locally, Delaware County has a high infant mortality rate.”
Tollefson said the goal is to give information and spread awareness to the community about the need to help families in the future.
Just recently, the organization has made some strong strides to help the community.
March of Dimes gave $25,000 research grants to both Ball Memorial Hospital and Open Door Services.
Tollefson said there is still work to be done, though.
“There are real families in our community who need help and support to live healthy lives,” Tollefson. “The people that are walking on Sunday are supporters of healthy babies and mothers of East Central Indiana.”
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