We all love babies (or at least I love babies). When I picked out little girl clothes for my friend’s baby shower last year I probably spent two hours at T.J. Maxx looking through the different outfits (they were all so cute). And when I see them in strollers on the train, I smile, make a silly face, and sometimes they smile back! (Other times they look away but it’s so adorable because some are bashful and just giggle. I can never get enough of the giggle.)
When I learned about March of Dimes‘ signature event “March for Babies” which has been claimed to be one of America’s favorite walking fundraisers, I couldn’t help but think that this is a really good cause and wanted to let everyone know about it.
With the help of your participation in walking and raising money in the March for Babies, you can help March of Dimes research preventions and solutions for premature babies or babies born with birth defects. You will also be able to help them fund programs in different communities that can provide moms-to-be with the best chance to have a happy, healthy baby. Also by participating in these walks and fundraising, you advocate for newborn screening, health insurance for all pregnant woman, and provide information to families with a baby in intensive care. Think about how much you can do for one baby and then think about how much you can do for a HUNDRED babies. Your dedication and support can help so many babies, who will one day grow up to be beautiful and talented, just like you!
When I found out that in 2010 school teams were able to raise more than $
3 million and the #1 youth walker raised more than $70,000 I thought, “Wow, that’s really cool.” And then I thought we could definitely try to fundraise even more than that this year. Spring is just around the corner and I think it would be a lot of fun to participate in one of these walks. Do you want to start your own walk on your campus but think it’s really hard to put together?
After reading a little bit more on the March of Dimes website, I learned that putting together a walk is actually pretty easy. Sure it takes a lot of time, preparation, and planning but where there’s a will, there’s a way.
So here’s what you can do:
Pick out a date for your March for Babies walk.
Recruit a TON of walkers to participate. Get a bunch of your friends, fellow collegiettes™, friends of friends, the sororities on your campus, and family members to come out to walk.
Send an email blast in advance; make a Facebook group, tweet about it, put posters up all around your school, and blog about it on your Her Campus branch.
Invite other clubs and groups on your campus to be a part of the event. Have your friends, peers, and the different campus groups compete against one another to see who can raise the most money. But remember, a good guideline goal for each walker is $300. If you have 30 people participating, you can raise up to $9,000. If you get 100 people to participate then you could raise $30,000.
And before you fret, it’s easy to raise money!
Donate $25 of your own money to start off. Then ask family members, a few friends, grandparents, teachers, neighbors and local business owners to donate. You could easily raise $300.
A few days before the event, hold a breakfast, lasagna dinner, or barbeque. This will get all your walkers pretty pumped.
Make sure you have some volunteers helping during the event who can pass out water bottles and t-shirts. You can also have volunteers help run the table booth with literature pamphlets about the cause.
Already put together your own March for Babies walk? Tell us about it below! And if you haven’t already, you can find your March for Babies Youth Toolkit here and get started now.