ATLANTA, GA - This April, tens of thousands of Atlantans are expected to lace up their tennis shoes and make their way on a 5.2-mile walk throughout the heart of the downtown Atlanta all in the name of babies!  Beginning in Centennial Olympic Park, the Georgia Chapter of the March of Dimes will launch its annual downtown WalkAmerica on Saturday, April 30th.  Teams and individual walkers will gather at the park to register at 7:30 AM and will begin their walk at 9:00 AM. 

After meeting in the park, walkers and sponsors will rally together at a Spirit Bridge arching over the “Start” line continuously greeted by volunteers cheering them along the designated route.  After finishing back at the park, walkers will enjoy lunch and explore sponsor booths and family activities such as: giant inflatables, mascots, face painting, balloons and other fun activities.  Incentives for top volunteers this year will include: gift certificates to Simon Malls, Delta Air Lines business class tickets and more.  

Although more than 400 companies have formed teams this year for the downtown WalkAmerica, any group, large or small, and individuals can participate! Family teams who have been personally touched by the March of Dimes mission are also growing this year.  Helping families and all walkers raise money easier is the Online Fundraising Tool (available at www.walkamerica.org).   With the ability to process credit cards online, OFT will allow volunteers to receive triple the amount of pledges than before.  The process is quick, easy and hassle-free with no transactions left in the hand of the walker. 

”No matter how much money you raise or donate, anyone can participate,” explained Downtown Atlanta WalkAmerica Chair Susan Boltacz.  “Each person who jumps on board truly does make a difference.”

As the organization’s largest fundraisers, this year’s WalkAmerica will once again focus on the fight against premature births. Premature birth is a silent crisis with 1 in 8 babies born too soon every day in the state of Georgia.  Even more alarming, premature birth can happen to any healthy woman and be life threatening for her baby.  Unfortunately, Atlanta’s local WalkAmerica Ambassador family knows this all to well.

What began as a routine exam for the twin-expectant Ford family wound up being an emergency surgery at Northside Hospital.  Much to their surprise, Laurie Ford was told that she was experiencing pregnancy complications that could lead to premature birth of both babies.  As a precaution the doctors recommended the Fords take steroid injections (supported by the March of Dimes via grants for research and development) that would help the babies lungs function outside of the womb in case the babies came too soon.   Sadly, one of the twins, named Abby, died just three weeks later.  Twenty-four hours after the sorrow of Abby’s death, the second twin, Grace was born.  Thanks to the March of Dimes, today Grace is a healthy two-year old with fully developed lungs who continues to live a healthy life.

While the fight against premature birth is going to be a difficult one, it is comforting to know that the March of Dimes is the only nonprofit organization in the country to ever conquer its original mission’s cause, which was originally to find a cure for polio.  Today, the March of Dimes is confident they, with the help of millions of volunteers across the nation, will one day be able to conquer their current mission – ending prematurity and birth defects!

The 2005 WalkAmerica Presenting Sponsor is Kaiser Permanente. State Sponsors are Delta Air Lines and Publix Super Markets. Five Star sponsors include Simon Malls, Delta Connection, Publix Super Markets and Four Star sponsors are Equity One, Northside Hospital, MAADA, Inhibitex, Coca-Cola and BellSouth. Media Sponsors are Atlanta Business Chronicle, Radio One, and Star 94, Viacom Outdoor and WSB-TV. Downtown Three Star Sponsors include ASA Delta Connection, Citigroup, Equifax, Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, Grady Health System, Northside Hospital, Kilpatrick Stockton, and 360 Media. 

ABOUT WALKAMERICA: The country’s oldest walking event, and the March of Dimes’ largest fund-raiser, WalkAmerica supports research and programs that help fight threats to the health of the 470,000 babies in the U.S. who are born too soon every year.  Since its beginning 35 years ago, WalkAmerica has raised more than $1 billion to help give babies a fighting chance and takes place on the last weekend in April in nearly 1,500 locations across the nation.  For more information about participating in WalkAmerica contact the March of Dimes Georgia Chapter at 404-350-9800. Corporate sponsor and walk forms are also available online at www.marchofdimes.com/georgia
 
For More Information (Media Only):
Tara Murphy or Jessica Garcia - 360 Media, Inc. – 404-577-8686 – info@360media.net
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