It’s been 12 or 13 years since I started helping out with March of Dimes and Blue Jeans for Babies. People buy buttons at work and then get to wear jeans instead of business attire on a selected day (November 8, 2004). Like so many other charity programs, the event isn’t as important as the money that’s raised.
The March of Dimes is a good organization because their work is focused on kids. Not many people today connect the name March of Dimes with actual dimes, but that’s how it started. The March of Dimes raised the money to come up with a cure for polio – one dime at a time.
Today we cut a public service announcement at the TV station which will run during the campaign. As is always the case, I am paired with a child who has been helped by March of Dimes. This year it was three year old Amanda.
Amanda seems sweet and normal, probably a bit small for her age. She wears glasses. You don’t expect a three year old to wear glasses and when they are thick, as these were, you start to wonder why.
The copy went something like, “Amanda was born three years ago – but too soon.”
Tiny and dangerously premature, years ago Amanda would have been considered a miracle. To her parents, she was and still is. But even with all our technology, these amazing children are affected by their early birth.
Amanda is lovable. I knew that the moment we met.
I don’t participate in Blue Jeans for Babies because of the March of Dimes. I am in it for Amanda, and all the other Amanda’s I’ve met.