Hundreds rally at March for Babies
More than $105,000 raised to help babies be born healthy
Approximately 600 members of the Southern Maryland community showed their support of our smallest citizens — babies — last weekend by participating in the 2017 March for Babies to benefit the March of Dimes.
Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf was packed with strollers, families and business teams who raised more than $105,000 to prevent birth defects, premature birth and other leading causes of death and disability in babies, according to a news release.
Special guests at the event included Shay Baldwin, 2, the 2017 Greater Washington D.C. Marker Ambassador, and her family. Mike Lukas from the Waldorf Jaycees, Bill McGee from Outdoor Creations and Jason Sproesser from the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs joined walkers on the 3 mile route as local DJ Robbie Webb provided tunes to keep the energy high.
“We saw today how important the health of moms and babies is to the people of Southern Maryland,” Lucas, the Southern Maryland March for Babies 2017 Chairperson, said in the release. “I’m so proud to be part of this community of people who came together to give all babies a healthy start in life. Babies should be a top priority all year round, and we’re excited about what we’ve accomplished here today.”
“It was a memorable and rewarding day for all of us,” said Audrey Baldwin, mother of the 2017 ambassador, in the release. “After Shay was born 10 weeks prematurely, we decided we wanted to do ever ything possible to help other families know the joy of a healthy child. We’re honored to represent the March of Dimes today to show our appreciation for the ways they comfort and support families like ours and support innovative research.”
Premature birth, the leading cause of death among babies in the United States, affects about 380,000 babies each year, including approximately 8,525 babies in Maryland. Funds raised by March for Babies in Southern Maryland help support March of Dimes programs that provide comfort and support for families as well as innovative research to find the unknown causes of premature birth and birth defects.
The March of Dimes is the leading nonprofit organization for pregnancy and baby health. For more than 75 years, moms and babies have benefited from March of Dimes research, education, vaccines and breakthroughs. For the latest resources and health information, go to marchofdimes.org and nacersano.org. Anyone affected by prematurity or birth defects can go to the shareyourstory.org community to find comfort and support. For detailed national, state and local perinatal statistics, go to persistats.org.