March of Dimes
Every day 1 in 8 babies born in the U.S. arrives too soon. Premature birth can happen to any pregnant woman, and no one knows why. It is a serious, common and costly problem. Key Club members are helping by raising thousands of dollars annually for the March of Dimes Youth Program, to help prevent prematurity.
The March of Dimes was founded in 1938 by US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to help fight polio. Within only 12 years, the March of Dimes had amassed more than $1 million in funds that helped researchers identify all three polio viruses. In 1954, the March of Dimes ran field trials of the polio vaccine with more than 1.8 million school children participating and the vaccine was deemed effective.
Key Club International began partnering with the March of Dimes in the 1960s by holding dances, carwashes, and bake sales to raise funds to further research in the medical field to help reduce birth defects. Key Club members around the world remember collecting dimes in hopes that someday children would be born free of birth defects. Today, Key Club members still collect change to support the March of Dimes; read on for how YOU can get involved!
The March of Dimes currently focuses on two major goals in their Prematurity Campaign:
· Raising Awareness of Prematurity
· Reducing the Rate of Premature Births
How can you get involved?
Key Club is very proud to be partnered with March of Dimes to give every baby a healthy life.