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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.

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.

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.

March for Babies video

In case you haven't seen it yet

The early bird gets...

$25!

Farmers Insurance is donating $25 to March for Babies for everyone who registers on-line for March for Babies before December 31st!

You can check out the details here. All you have to do is register on-line, tell all of your friends and family and team members to register on-line, tell everyone you know to register on-line.... and March of Dimes gets gets a $25 donation from Farmers for everyone who registers on-line!!

Get the word out, better hurry though - it ends December 31st!

Prematurity Awareness Day

November 12 was Prematurity Awareness Day! This is the day the March of Dimes released the report card on prematurity.... the nation scored a "D" in regards to the national rate of premature birth. Kansas scored an unexceptable D and scored an embarassing F.

We heard from Dr. Howard Kilbride from Children's MercyDr. John Yeast from St. Luke's Hospital Brian Williams, dad of cutie-pie Savanna Williams, shared his experience about the premature birth of his beautiful daughter, Savanna and how the March of Dimes and the NICU family support program aided them along the way.

As Brian was speaking, Savanna sat with her mom, Nicci, and worked the crowd... it was so inspiring to hear about Savanna's birth circumstances, her struggles - then to see this cutie walking around and being generally adorable. Lisa Butterfield from KU med spoke last then Dr. Howard Kilbride fielded questions. There were also several other mother and child health resources there.

It was a great day - and brought light to an important local and national health problem. Please join the March of Dimes in signing the prematurity petition and telling our government that we care about babies born too soon!

Books-a-million event was Legendary!

November is prematurity awareness month.

That's right - all month! One in EIGHT children (12-13%) of children are born prematurely each year. In Kansas (and those of you on the Missouri side...) those stats hold true. For every seven babies born full-term, one is born before 37 completed weeks gestation. Not only do these children face higher levels of infant mortality but the ones who do make it, many face life-long health concerns or disabilities.

Please join me in signing the Prematurity Petition to help to alert others of this national crsis. Also, please check out and pass on the March of Dimes' prematurity site.

If your family has been touched by prematurity, I encourage you to tell at least one person about it this month. Also - remember that The Legends is promoting the March of Dimes and Prematurity Awareness Month in November. Please join us November 6th at Books-a-Million from 10 a.m. to noon if you are available!

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween.

Kara

Be there or be square

We are having a "family day" at Books-a-Million at The Legends at Village West on Thursday, November 6th from 10 a.m. -11 a.m. to kick off Prematurity Awareness Month. We will have face painting, crafts, stories - it is sure to be a fun time! Please join us if possible, it will be great to see anyone who can make it. The administration at The Legends has expressed that they don't often have much turn out at these events - let's show them how March of Dimes families can band together! Please come if you can and invite your friends and family if they are around. If you are working but Grandma and Grandpa want to bring the kids, that's great. If you're not able to come by your neighbor or friend might think it is fun, that's great, too, please let them know about it! Radio Disney will also be there! Please RSVP to Kara if you are planning on coming so we can have enough craft supplies for the kids.

For the month of November, The Legends will also be displaying March of Dimes prematurity public service announcements on several of their kiosks throughout the complex. If you're out and about, drop by and do your shopping at The Legends and see the cool PSAs!

Save the dates!

As you may or may not know, November is Prematurity Awareness Month and we have a lot of exciting events coming up!

I will post more details as they become available but please mark your calendars for Thursday, November 6th from 10-11 a.m. for an event at The Legends at Village West. This will be a fun, kid-friendly event with entertainment and crafts - look for details to come.

Also - Prematurity Awareness Day is Wednesday, November 12th. We are planning an event at Children's Mercy Hospital where we will announce the national prematurity report card and launch phase 2 of the prematurity campaign. There will be several organizations represented who are working to lower the rate of premature birth in our community and we are hoping it will receive much media coverage. Please plan on attending if possible, details to follow.

Thank you all so much for your continued support. Please, as always, let me know if there is anything I can do for you!

Kara

Bikers for Babies - 2008

Well, the rain held off but it was windy and quite chilly! Luckily I was inside the vendor garage at the mission table. :)

This is "Imagine Alley"... these are all of the mission signs from March for Babies intermingled with several "imagine" signs. There were over 6,000 riders who raised over $630,000 to save babies. Amazing!

Getting ready for the opening ceremonies
I ran in to several "babies" I recognized! Allie and Haley, Savanna, Taylor - but Maggie was the only one I happened to have a camera in my hand when I saw her. I also saw Ryan and Amanda volunteering without their "baby" (on her first birthday none the less!) and met several new children and parents who had mission stories. It was so neat to get to talk to so many people!
Ed Hale's Posse
The Heards up on stage
It was another great Bikers for Babies. I'm already excited for next year!