Help us thank Johnny Dare!

As you may know, we have the largest, most successful Bikers for Babies – nationwide - right here in Kansas City. You may also know that radio personality Johnny Dare of 98.9 The Rock has been instrumental in the success of this event for the past 14 years. (Since 1995, Bikers for Babies has raised $3.7 million in Kansas City!) His promotion of Bikers for Babies on-air and passion for the March of Dimes mission is to be commended! And I am asking for your help in thanking him…

We are putting together a “thank you” book for Johnny to present to him after the event. We want this book to be full of pictures and notes from local families who have been touched the March of Dimes. If are able to help, here is what I need:

*A letter to Johnny telling a little about your family/child(ren) and thanking him for his involvement in Bikers for Babies and support of the March of Dimes.
*A picture of your child(ren) holding a “sign” (poster, piece of paper, etc.) simply saying “Thank You.” Please just include the words “thank you” as we would also like to put together a slideshow with pictures of all of the adorable children to thank ALL riders! I am hoping to add to this slideshow year after year and have it be something we can show at various March of Dimes events.

These can be sent to kmcburney@marchofdimes.com. Since we will be putting this book together immediately after the ride, the deadline is September 20, 2009 – the same day as the 15th Annual Bikers for Babies at Kansas Speedway!

Thank you in advance for your help with this project – I know it will be something Johnny will appreciate and cherish for years to come. I have attached a sample from a local family team captain if you are interested in getting some ideas. If you have any other team members who has a child touched by the March of Dimes mission, please feel free to forward to anyone who may be interested!

For more information about the Kansas City Bikers for Babies, visit http://www.bikersforbabieskc.org/.

Please let me know if you have any questions! Shhhh..... we want to surprise him with this!

Did you see "Who wants to be a milionaire" last night?

Sherri Shepherd, March of Dimes celebrity volunteer and co-host of "The View," won $50,000 for the March of Dimes, her favorite charity, on Tuesday night's special 10th anniversary edition of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire," hosted by Regis Philbin (after accessing her "Ask the Audience" life-line on a question about the movie, Notting Hill). The smash hit show returned to ABC-TV for a two-week prime time engagement. As a special feature, each episode will conclude with a celebrity player taking the hot seat, hoping to correctly answer a single question worth $50,000 for his or her favorite charity. The March of Dimes thanks Sherri for donating her winnings to our cause and for her ongoing support of our mission to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.

Time article

Very interesting article from Time on premature birth.

Sprint Family Fun Day

The next Sprint Family Fun Day at the Kanss City Power & Light district is THIS Saturday! The theme is "scientastic"... the kids will get to make wax hands, slime, super balls and more! Hope to see you there!

Join us for some fun at the KC Power & Light District!

Attention fellow bloggers

Do you have a blog? A Caringbridge site? A family website?

I would love to add a list of local familis to the sidebar of this blog.

If you have a blog or a website - will you please leave a comment with the address if you would like to add it?

Thanks so much!

Kara

Are you on Facebook?

Join the March for Babies KC Family Teams - March of Dimes group and stay in touch!

Kick off your Memorial Day weekend with a celebration of wine and food for a great cause. Visit the Wine Fest website or call 913-469-3611 by 5 p.m. on Wednesday (May 20) to reserve your ticket for $50. Tickets may also be purchased for $60 at the door on May 21.

Wine + Food + Friends
In addition to more than 200 varieties of wines, Schlafly of St. Louis will satisfy beer connoisseurs. Restaurants generously donating their time and tastes in the Wine Fest main event include 801 Chophouse, Blanc Burgers + Bottles, The Capital Grille, Hereford House, Pierpont’s, Vinino and Zest. Baby Cakes will also dish out delectable desserts!

Silent auction offers something for everyone
The 2009 Wine Fest silent auction is sure to impress! Be sure to bid on the 140+ great items, including a spot in David Beckham’s soccer academy in Los Angeles, tickets to The Ellen DeGeneres (including air fare), David Letterman and Dr. Phil shows, and of course, premier wine packages!

Your donation benefits all babies
Wine Fest proceeds benefit the March of Dimes mission to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. We carry out this mission through research, community services, education and advocacy to save babies' lives.

Thank you for supporting the March of Dimes. See you on May 21!

March for Babies is Sunday May 3!

Where should I park? There are 3 parking garages available at no charge as well as the metered parking on the street. KC Power & Light District Garage - entrance is located on 13th St. between Grand and Walnut. Entrance is on the left. H&R Block Garage- entrance on Main between 13th & 14th and on Walnut between 13th & 14th Cosentino's and Midland Theater Garage - entrance on Main between 12th & 13th and on Walnut between 12th & 13th

Town Pavilion Garage will be available for overflow parking but will be charging $5 per car to park on May 3.

Is there a registration fee? We recommend participants over the age of 13 years sign up and either donate or fundraise $25 or more. If you have not yet registered at http://www.marchforbabies.org, there will be 2 registration tents there Sunday morning and you can sign up and turn money in there!

Where is a good place to tell my family team to meet? Wherever is convenient for you - a suggestion would be the Family Team tent.

Where is the Family Team Tent? On Grand Boulevard in front of the Sprint Center.

Where is the breakfast area? Breakfast (and coffee!) can be found on Grand Street in front of the Sprint Center.

Where and when will lunch be served? Lunch will be served on Grand Boulevard in front of the Sprint Center in the same location as breakfast immediately following the walk.

Where are the restrooms? There will be porta potties located throughout the Power & Light District. There are also restrooms in the Live Block outside of Tengo Sed Cantina.

Where is opening ceremonies/ Radio Disney performing? All of these will take place on the stage located inside the KC Live! Block.

When does the walk start? The registration tents will be open at 8 am. Opening ceremonies start at 9:30 and the walk will kick off at 10 am.

How do I get a T-shirt? Participants who raise $200 or more will receive a t-shirt voucher upon registration. The voucher can be redeemed for a t-shirt inside the KC Live block at the T-shirt tent.

Where can I find water? There will be tubs filled with water bottles throughout the Power & Light District.

Where does the walk start? The walk will begin at the intersection of Walnut & East Truman Road.

How long is the walk? The walk will be 1 or 3 miles. Your choice! Both walks begin at the same location.

Are dogs allowed? Well behaved dogs on leashes are welcome to participate. The owners are responsible for picking up for the dogs if nature calls and the dogs will not be allowed near the food tents.

Is there a "rain out" plan? March for Babies will take place "rain or shine" as long as it is safe for our dedicated participants.

Tweet for a cause!

Got this from the March for Babies blog.

Hugh Jackman, who tweets as @RealHughJackman, has offered to give $100,000 to the charity of choice of the tweeter he feels makes the strongest, most heart-felt case. In 140 words or less that is.

Thousands of people have already sent their tweets - among them many March of Dimes supporters. Thanks, everyone! Hugh’s announcing the winner on April 24, so get your tweet in now! Tell Hugh and everyone else why this cause means so much to you!
Looking good and doing good… Hugh Jackman certainly is the total package! Wondering what to Tweet? Here are some examples:@RealHughJackman Every waking moment I have with my babies I’m thankful for March of Dimes research. We need your support to save more babies.@RealHughJackman My kids walk, run, laugh and play thanks to March of Dimes efforts! We need your to help give every baby a healthy start.

Lobby Day in Topeka

First, we had a great luncheon with several of our Kansas legislators! It was great to get to talk to some of these officials one-on-one!Then, we all headed over to the Kansas State Capitol Building to deliver information to the rest of our senators and representatives who weren't able to make the luncheon. If you've never been lobbying before - it is an AWESOME experience. I would encourage you if you ever have a chance in the future to take part in a local or national lobby day.

Okay - so probably took too many pictures of the actual capitol building - but it is so gorgeous!!

Before we left, we got to visit the actual senate session.Here we are waiting for it to start.After they called the senate to order, they recognized the March of Dimes in attendance!

Very fun day! More than that, it feels so good to know that we had small small part in the process of getting the March of Dimes' mission brought to light with our state representatives.

Check it out!! Volunteer benfits!

(Click to make larger)

Free Tax Prepartion

Liberty Tax is one of the March of Dimes' dedicated national sponsors. They are committed to working with the March of Dimes to ensure that ALL babies are one day born healthy.

On March 27th, Liberty Tax will host it’s much advertised, Tax Free Preparation Day. Customers who make an in-office donation of $50 or more to March of Dimes will have their taxes prepared free of charge at participating locations!!

Fifty dollars is a deal to get your taxes prepared anyway - and it's going to a good cause!!

WOW!

Oh my goodness, big kudos to ABC and Extreme Makeover Home Edition - last night's episode ROCKED!! Like I said last week, I almost always love this show... but this one, for obvious reasons, was especially a "must see" for me!

The family is absolutely amazing, attention was brought to the issues of prematurity and infant loss and I can't believe how much they mentioned the March of Dimes!!

I hope you all saw it - would love to hear your reactions!

Happy Monday,
Kara

Extreme Home Makeover THIS Sunday!

I love this show to begin with, but I will be sure to catch it this week! On Sunday, March 1st the Emmy Award winning ABC-TV program Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, will build a new home for March of Dimes volunteers, the Augustin Family of Keller, Texas. The family was selected because Amber and Peter Augustin’s son, Lane, was born extremely premature in 2004. They are dedicated to volunteering for the March of Dimes and helping other families with premature babies. Hundreds of March of Dimes volunteers and staff helped demolish and rebuild the Augustins’ home. Fort Worth expects to have 1500 people watching the broadcast together and this will act as a kickoff/sign-up event for March for Babies.

I'd love to hear what you think about it after the show... I'm anxious to see it!

CHIP

You may have alread heard but the CHIP, Children's Health Insurance Program, was signed into law by the president last week. This is a HUGE win for March of Dimes supporters and anyone who believes in babies being born healthy!

Here is what Dr. Howse, President of the March of Dimes, had to say about this awesome accomplishment....

I am pleased to announce that the reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was signed into law on Wednesday. This critical legislation includes key provisions the March of Dimes has championed since 2007:

*Maintains coverage for those children currently enrolled and give states the resources to cover an additional 4.1 million uninsured children which means 11 million children will have access to coverage.
*Gives states a new option to cover pregnant women who meet the program’s income guidelines.
*Contains a robust pediatric quality initiative to fund the development and dissemination of pediatric quality measures for use by the states. This will help ensure that children receive not only health coverage, but high quality care.

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who has played a role in this accomplishment.

T-shirts

I have already been getting several requests for information on t-shirts. Here's the low-down...

EA Graphics is the official t-shirt supplier for March for Babies. This year, in addition to the regular Family Team Merchandise, they have also added templates where the t-shirts can be even more personalized.

Some teams choose to make their own t-shirts by making iron-ons or by ordering them either locally or on-line through various printing suppliers. Yes you are able to use the March for Babies logo on your shirts! This logo can be downloaded by clicking the "Spread the Word" button under the "Keys to Fundraising Success" heading on your personal March for Babies page.

Please remeber to RSVP to the rally if you haven't already, it will be a great time!

Free coffee!

Starbucks is giving away free coffee - and what's better than free stuff??

All you have to do is pledge to volunteer five hours in your community (we always need March for Babies volunteers!!), go to a participating Starbucks and they will give you a free tall coffee. Better hurry - this ends January 25th!

National Ambassador on the news

The March of Dimes 2009 National Ambassador family, Ashley, Michael and Katelyn Hall will appear on the Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends on Thursday, January 22, at 8:55 am EST. Please tune in to see the Hall family tell their inspiring story to March of Dimes volunteer and Fox & Friends host Gretchen Carlson.

March for Babies video

In case you haven't seen it yet

Folic Acid Awareness Week

I logged on to Facebook this morning and saw a status update from my friend, March of Dimes, that it is folic acid awareness week! (Did you know you could be "friends with" or "fan of" March of Dimes on Facebook?) This B vitamin helps prevent birth defects of the brain and spinal cord when taken before the end of early pregnancy. Take a moment this week to let someone know how important this vitamin is for all women of childbearing age as it only works if taken before and during the first few weeks of pregnancy.

Don't forget if you're contemplating pregnancy or know someone who is, there are some great resources on the March of Dimes website regarding pregnancy!

I Wanna Rock

Did you know that Dee Snider is the "Honorary Chairman" for March of Dimes Bikers for Babies?

Check out the article on the March of Dimes site or the video from when he and Dr. Howse rang the opening bell for the New York Stock Exchange!