“I am so proud of our Sprint associates and their record-breaking contributions this year to the March of Dimes,” said Tim Kelly, senior vice president of Sprint Consumer Marketing and the 2004 Sprint executive chairperson for March of Dimes WalkAmerica. “It was an honor to walk with my fellow Sprint team members to demonstrate both our commitment to Kansas City and to help raise money to fight the growing crisis of premature births.”

In 2004, Sprint was the local presenting sponsor for March of Dimes WalkAmerica in Dallas; Kansas City, Mo.; Las Vegas; Orlando; and Washington, D.C., and participated in 30 additional communities' March of Dimes WalkAmerica across the nation. Locally, more than 400 Sprint employees participated in the Kansas City WalkAmerica on May 2 at the Kansas City Zoo.

“We are very grateful for the generous support and enthusiasm we have received from Sprint. Their role of presenting sponsor of the Kansas City March of Dimes WalkAmerica and the $100,000 raised by the Sprint WalkAmerica team is greatly appreciated and will direct us one step closer to finding the causes of premature birth,” said Norm Hess, interim state director of the Greater Kansas Chapter of the March of Dimes.

Sprint has been a long-time supporter of the March of Dimes. Since 1997, corporate and employee contributions total nearly $2 million dollars. Sprint Chairman and CEO Gary Forsee also serves as the National March of Dimes Board of Trustees Chairman.

Representatives from Sprint and the state March of Dimes office will deliver the teddy bears and diapers to the Saint Luke’s staff and patients at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, May 18. Media is welcome; please page Rachel Rahe, Saint Luke’s marketing representative, at 816-440-6766, if you plan to attend.

About Sprint
Sprint is a global integrated communications provider serving more than 26 million customers in over 100 countries. With approximately 65,000 employees worldwide and over $26 billion in annual revenues in 2003, Sprint is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying state-of-the-art network technologies, including the United States’ first nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network and an award-winning Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint provides local communications services in 39 states and the District of Columbia and operates the largest 100-percent digital, nationwide PCS wireless network in the United States. For more information, visit www.sprint.com.

About March of Dimes
The March of Dimes is a national voluntary health agency whose mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects and infant mortality. Founded in 1938, the March of Dimes funds programs of research, community services, education, and advocacy to save babies and in 2003 launched a five-year campaign to address the increasing rate of premature birth. For more information, visit the March of Dimes Web site at www.marchofdimes.com or its Spanish Web site at www.nacersano.org.

About Saint Luke’s Hospital
Saint Luke's Hospital is a member of Saint Luke's Health System, which consists of nine area hospitals and many primary care practices, and provides a range of primary, acute, tertiary, and chronic care services. The health system is an organization in which the physicians and hospitals, functioning as an integrated unit, assume responsibility for the delivery of comprehensive, cost-effective, quality health care for people in the metropolitan Kansas City area and the surrounding region.