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Saturday’s ‘Bingo for Babies’ is March of Dimes fund-raiser
By Lynn Hotaling
For Cindy Shuler, helping premature babies is more than a worthy cause; it’s personal. She knows firsthand how March of Dimes money helps babies.
Shuler is the mother of a premature child, but it was not until she participated in WalkAmerica in 2000 that she made the connection.
Hope, left, and Cindy Shuler will lead local fund-raising efforts for the March of Dimes this Saturday, Nov. 5, during “Bingo for Babies,” which will be from 6 to 9 p.m. at Savannah Community Building. Hope, 13, was born eight weeks premature and was the March of Dimes ambassador child two years ago. Cindy Shuler, who became an active volunteer after she realized how the March of Dimes had helped when Hope was born, is the county’s current March of Dimes chairman. – Herald photo by Nick Breedlove
“When I heard Joe Smith talk that day, I told my niece who was walking with me ‘They helped Hope, and I didn’t know anything about it,’” Shuler said.
Her daughter, Hope, 13, was eight weeks premature and had to spend time in neonatal units in Asheville and Charlotte; March of Dimes funds contributed to her care.
“I was shocked at first,” Shuler said. “Then I felt a need to repay the March of Dimes for what they’d done to help Hope.”
Shuler missed the next spring’s WalkAmerica, but she was back in 2002. That year Hope walked alongside her mom, leading organizers to choose Hope as the March of Dimes’ 2003 poster child. Shuler’s commitment grew with Hope’s involvement, and she is now Jackson County’s March of Dimes fund-raising chairman, a job she says she’ll keep for at least another year.
To help meet this year’s county goal, Shuler plans one last event, “Bingo for Babies,” this Saturday, Nov. 5, at Savannah Community Building from 6 until 9 p.m. Cost will be $1 per game, and prizes will be awarded. Food concessions will also be available.
Patrick McGuire Dentistry is a primary sponsor for the event.
“We hope everyone will come out for a fun family evening and help save babies at the same time,” Shuler said last week, adding that local March of Dimes volunteers still need to raise a little more than $1,000 to meet this year’s target of $15,000.
Shuler said that anyone who donates to the March of Dimes can be confident that the money goes exclusively to the group’s effort to prevent premature births through education.
“Seventy-six cents of every dollar raised goes into research, and the other 24 cents goes to education,” Shuler said. “That’s why we rely on volunteers for fund-raising.
Though Hope is mostly fine now, the Scotts Creek seventh-grader sill has some asthma and problems with her lungs, Shuler said. Because Hope’s esophagus was connected to her lungs at birth, she’s had to have 13 surgeries since she was born.
One reason for choosing November for her final fund-raising effort is that this month is National Prematurity Month, and Nov. 15 is Premature Awareness Day, Shuler said.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt organized the March of Dimes in 1938 to fight polio, and the organization is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Salk polio vaccine this year.
Once a cure for polio was discovered, March of Dimes refocused its efforts on another challenge: saving babies from birth defects and other serious health problems, including premature births, which are a big problem in North Carolina, according to Shuler.
“We have the third-highest rate of premature births in the nation,” she said.
Shuler offered the following reasons for supporting March of Dimes.
“During one eight-hour business day, 26 babies die, 48 babies come into the world so small they have to fight to survive, and 31 babies are born with hearts that don’t work,” she said. “These babies need heroes – individuals and organizations who can and want to make a difference.”
According to information supplied by the March of Dimes, one in eight babies is born prematurely, and 28,000 premature babies are born in North Carolina each year.
Milestones accomplished through March of Dimes support include establishment of neonatal intensive care units; development of the PKU screening test to prevent a devastating form of mental retardation; pioneering prenatal surgery to correct birth defects before a baby is born; and educating pregnant women to the importance of folic acid and distributing multi-vitamins to reduce neural tube birth defects. Efforts to raise awareness about folic acid has led to an 83 percent decline in neural tube defects in Western North Carolina, Shuler said.
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