The Leflore County chapter of the March of Dimes held its WalkAmerica kickoff Tuesday at Greenwood Leflore Hospital.
The annual fundraiser, in which teams walk to raise money for the March of Dimes, benefits research for the prevention of birth defects and premature babies.
Melanie Nixon, community director for Greenwood, talked to prospective team captains about this year’s walk. She also discussed plans for reaching the fundraising goal of $55,000.
This year’s walk will be held on May 7, the weekend of Mother’s Day.
“We have had the walk on this weekend before, and it has been a great success,” Nixon said. “I think Mother’s Day weekend is a special weekend to have the walk because we are walking for moms and their babies.”
Also speaking at the meeting was Claire Green, who was the 2010 ambassador for Greenwood.
“The Delta has a lot of babies who come early,” said Green, who remembers seeing numerous couples for the region while her twins were in the neonatal intensive care unit. “The March of Dimes gave friends a chance to support my family and talk to us.”
Green explained that having premature babies can isolate families.
“If people wanted to see our babies, we would hold them up to the window when friends came by,” she said. “Because we were so scared of germs. We are still so scared of germs.”
Green introduced the 2011 ambassador, Stephanie Gillespie. Gillespie went to high school with Green and came into the NICU during the Green family’s tenure.
“When Stephanie walked into the NICU, we had been there for three months,” said Green. “I thought, ‘I can’t believe this is affecting someone so close to home.’”
Gillespie and her husband had been unable to have a baby for 10 years when she found out she was pregnant. Her children was born early at 29 weeks.
“We did have the same problems that many other March of Dimes babies had,” she said.
What the March of Dimes did for Gillespie was educate her. After her first premature baby, when Gillespie was pregnant with her second child she did research about how to get her baby to full term.
With injections and little procedures. Gillespie was able to carry her second child 38 weeks.
The March of Dimes walk is its signature event. This year’s walk will be held at Greenwood Leflore Hospital's track outside the wellness center. It helps families throughout the Greenwood community and elsewhere. Individuals, churches, civic clubs and businesses are encouraged to form teams to walk or donate to other local teams.
To sign up, register online at www.marchforbabies.org.
Once teams register, Nixon will contact their captains and fundraising can begin. Through the online system, teams can contact friends around the country to make donations to help them.
“This event has really grown for the past few years,” said Nixon. “We hope this year will be one of the biggest and best events.”
• Contact Andrea Hall at ahall@gwcommonwealth.com.
