March of Dimes in Utah: NICU Family Support Program

One of the first things people want to know when they're considering raising or donating money for March for Babies is what will be done with the money locally to help babies and families. That's why I'm proud to be contributing to the Utah chapter and supporting its amazing programs. The first one I'm highlighting is the NICU Family Support Program.


I'm lucky to be able to work with someone as dedicated to her job and to the families and babies in the NICU as the Utah Chapter's NICU Family Support Specialist, Rachel. Rachel personally lived through the NICU experience, and hearing her share the story of her premature twins is incredible. Now, she works tirelessly as an advocate for preemies and for families to help them through their stay in the NICU. She is at the hospital with these families everyday, at the babies' bedsides, getting to know every single one of them and helping them with whatever they need, from the mundane (snacks and magazines, anyone?) to the more significant ins and outs of intensive care for newborns, like life-threatening medical crises and bereavement. Rachel is the heart and soul of the March of Dimes; every dollar we raise is a dollar closer to ensure her program continues getting funded and these teeny tiny babies continue to benefit from research for their little hearts, brains, and lungs.


Read more info on this program at the NICU Family Support website! You can also check out the March of Dimes Share Your Story online community and NICU Families website.

I know of at least five babies in our extended family team that stayed in the NICU, two of which (the twins!) I'm going to talk about in the next post. What's interesting about our little group of NICU babies is not all of them were born prematurely - some needed the specialized care because of infections or life-threatening complications. Team Bambini is walking for all those babies, in memory of babies that have passed away, for babies born with special needs or birth defects, and in celebration of the babies born healthy! Thanks for joining us!

(All images courtesy of the March of Dimes)

bambini = babies

Welcome everyone to the Team Bambini blog!

Having asked all of you to join me in walking and raising money for March for Babies, I wanted a central place to share information on when, where, why, and how we can all participate.

So, for this inaugural post, the basics:

Our team is walking in the Weber/Davis County March for Babies, Saturday, May 1 in Layton, Utah at Layton Commons Park. Our goal is to raise $1500. That's 10 people raising $150, 20 people raising $75, six people raising $250, or one very generous donation. I assure you, we can do this, and it will be fun. Check this space often for fundraising tips, encouragement, event details, and all sorts of information about the March of Dimes. Please add this to your RSS feeds, Google Reader, bookmarks, favorites, or wherever you read blogs.

I'll begin with the first question on everyone's minds: why should I walk and where does the money go? Everyone has a different reason for walking and I hope this blog will help you find yours.

From the March for Babies website:

"When you walk in March for Babies, you give hope to the more than half a million babies born too soon each year. The money you raise supports programs in your community that help moms have healthy, full-term pregnancies. And it funds research to find answers to the problems that threaten our babies. We've been walking since 1970 and have raised an incredible $1.8 billion to benefit all babies."

This is my favorite graphic to use to help make the connection to the March of Dimes research and programs that we're raising money for:

(click and zoom if it's difficult to read)

And a visual of the March of Dimes umbrella of research - you might be surprised what's covered under there:

If you'd like to learn even more about the March of Dimes, this website has tons of information. Most of us on this March for Babies team have never had a baby born prematurely or with a birth defect or have experienced an infant death, but I can promise you, we've all been affected by the March of Dimes in some way (to be proven in an upcoming blog!). Also stay tuned for the "Why I Walk" posts where I hope some of you will consider sharing a little bit about your personal reasons for joining the team and raising money for the March of Dimes.

Thank you all so much for your help! I'm so excited to have my great big extended family come together to support me in this. It's going to be fun to watch this team grow and to see all your smiling faces at the walk...aiding me in my secret ambition to head up the largest and most successful family team in Weber and Davis counties!

I know you still have questions (is there a minimum donation to participate? do I bring my kids to the walk? what should my fundraising goal be? how do I sign up?), so please leave any and all questions you might have in the comments section so we can all read them, and I will either answer them there or in a separate post.