Brody, Collin & Audrey
Normally, the March of Dimes would be one of the charities that I sort of overlook, figuring it’s just too big and successful to need my dinky $100. But this letter from an Oglethorpe University alum (where my husband is president) was so touching –and let’s face it, the babies are so stinking cute– that I couldn’t resist.
Dear Mrs. Londergan,
I wanted to encourage you to donate to the March of Dimes Foundation. www.marchofdimes.com It is such a wonderful charity… and on a personal note, it has a special and lasting place in my heart. After I graduated from the Evening Program at OU in 2002, my husband and I decided it was time to start our family. After a few years, with the help of fertility treatments, we discovered that we were pregnant with triplets! While we were ecstatic at the thought of finally having babies, we were overwhelmed with how dangerous my pregnancy was going to be. The question wasn’t if I would deliver prematurely, but how early my babies would arrive.
A tough beginning
As is the case with many multiple births, I started to go into pre-term labor at 24.5 weeks. I was admitted to Piedmont Hospital, where I was placed on bedrest for 10 weeks. I did deliver 6 weeks early, at 34 weeks. My children were in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for 3 weeks, made possible through funding by the March of Dimes.
The Bachmann Family
My husband and I were so grateful that we made it so long in our pregnancy that we decided to try to give back and become more involved in the March of Dimes. In 2006, we were chosen as a March of Dimes Ambassador Family for the Atlanta Chapter, and for a year we gave speeches to companies and groups about how funding provided by the March of Dimes had helped me to “stay pregnant” and deliver healthy children!
So, I do believe that the March of Dimes is worthy of your consideration. Remember, today’s babies are tomorrow’s Oglethorpe University Graduates! www.oglethorpe.edu Thank you, Debbie Bachmann
So all kids can live happily ever after
As I dug deeper into Debbie’s cause, I learned at lot of impressive stuff. The March of Dimes was established in 1938 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to save American youth from polio – a disease that had crippled him. The organization invests heavily in research to combat all kinds of genetic birth defects, low birth weight and premature birth that contribute to infant mortality, and the MOD folks have created a great online educational website at the Pregnancy and Health Education Center http://www.marchofdimes.com/pnhec/Since its inception in 1938, March of Dimes has helped millions of babies to survive and thrive. Including these three happy tots. Plus, January is Birth Defects Prevention month – so what a good time to give!
What Gives 
I almost afraid to read your blog every day because almost everything you have been writing about has been close to something in my life that day. Weird~
Today marks the 33rd week of my “sorta” daughter’s pregnancy. She’s having twins. She’s already been in the hospital once. We’re just praying those boys staying in her long for all to go well with them.
Thank you for donating to HER cause! 🙂
We are simpatico, Jodee — for sure!!!
She had her twins yesterday! They are in the NICU but doing great! Both weighed over 5 lbs.!
Hey Betty, as you know, our little Genevieve was born 2 months early at 32 weeks. Thanks for supporting March of Dimes! Can’t wait to see what comes over the next year…HUGS!
Just a heads up.. if you care about animals at all, you do not want to donate to the March of Dimes. The March of Dimes is a charity who still funds animal experiments per the Humane Charity Seal. There are many organizations who have vowed to end their support of funding animal tests and have found other humane alternatives to research. Learn more at http://humaneseal.org || Also, feel free to check my website for more ways you can help animals.
Hi Stacey —
I will definitely check this out … I’m sorry if I wasn’t aware of this at the time I made my contribution, and I know that giving to one organization as opposed to another is always a path that is rife with conflicting interests. I totally appreciate your compassion for animals and hate the thought that research sometimes includes pain for animals … as you do! In any event, thanks for alerting readers to this issue … and I wish you the very best! I’ll check out your humaneseal website as well — all the best! b
Mrs. Londergan,
A friend that is friends with this family forward this to me to see. I just want to say thank you for your $100 donation to March of Dimes. I am a grandmother of twins. The twins were born 8 weeks premature and they too had to stay in NICU. My precious little grandson Jackson was there for 6 weeks and my little angel Sophia for 4 weeks. The funding from the March of Dimes was a great help to them as well. Your care and generosity has and will affect many people. You are a very kind and compassionate woman. I am so glad my friend shared this with me.
Hey Betty –
This is terrific – I’ve just read through them all, and all are inspirational, as of course are you for doing it. I’ve recently become very interested in two causes – micro loans – in the area of your choice, and fistulas – fixing them, and giving those women a chance at a new start. There are a lot of sites for microloans, but haven’t found a good one for fistulas – if you do, please let me know. Thanks, and take care.
Hey Susan — Thanks a million for checking this out! I in fact just heard of an amazing organizations that is doing a lot of work in villages with training women who are midwives, etc… to fix fistulas … and it’s quite amazing. I will be posting on this soon … as well as doing a lot more on microfinance, social entrepreneurship, etc. Hope to see you in Swarthmore! xoxoxo B