March of Dimes

Ericka and I (and M) decided to join the March of Dimes' annual fundraiser on Sunday. Their idea is brilliantly simple: get a big group of people together for a Sunday morning stroll around Lake of the Isles in south Minneapolis (and convince people you know to support the charity in exchange for you doing so).

















If you aren't aware - a brief spiel about March of Dimes:

• After contributing to wiping out polio in 1940s by literally asking folks to donate a dime (the stakes have been raised since!) they went on to conquer other things.
• Today, their focus is on research and support of neonatal intensive care units and treatments.
• Their main contribution to man-kind (as I see it - although folks with experience of polio may disagree) is their work in surfactants to counter Infant Respiratory Distress Syndrome. We witnessed this firsthand in March 2006. If you're born really small your lungs collapse entirely every time you breathe out. March of Dimes was instrumental in developing the (my understanding) air lubricant that keeps the friction from breaking your lungs. For more detail see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_of_dimes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_respiratory_distress_syndrome

It was a lovely day with lots of sunshine. The March of Dimes people ensured that nobody was too worn out from the five-mile hike by serving breakfast before, lunch afterwards, and a couple of snacks along the route.

Thanks-a-mil to everyone that contributed!!
Via online donations, checks, and old-fashioned cash Ericka and I raised $800.