Help raise money with WalkAmerica

To the editor:The May 3 Cape Girardeau WalkAmerica is almost here, but the Southeast Missouri March of Dimes still needs your help to reach its fund-raising goal.

Since I've begun interning at the March of Dimes, I've begun to understand why these services are an absolute necessity. They touch every one of us. Maybe you or a loved one received polio vaccine, know a child who spent time in a neonatal intensive-care unit or know that parents must make good lifestyle choices (such as not drinking while pregnant) to keep their babies healthy. That's the work of the March of Dimes. It funds medical research and education nationally and right here in Southeast Missouri in hopes of preventing birth defects, prematurity and infant mortality. But the organization can't fund these projects without your help.

The easiest way you can help is by forming a virtual WalkAmerica team. Sign up at WalkAmerica.org as an individual (family, corporate) team and use the provided tools to ask family, friends and others to sponsor your team. Raising $100 could help 10 families with babies in neonatal intensive care units learn how to care for their premature baby once at home. This is so important because one in eight babies is born premature, and half the time we have no idea why.

You also can call our office at 651-6033. We'd love to see you at the walk on May 3 in Kiwanis Park, too. Please sign up. You might save the life of your own child.

SHANDI GREVE, Intern, Southeast Missouri March of Dimes, Cape Girardeau