T&D Staff Writer

For the 39th year, the March of Dimes March for Babies brought people from all walks of life together on Saturday to help save babies.

Families, teams and individuals in Orangeburg and Calhoun counties converged upon the Edisto Memorial Gardens on a sunny, brisk morning to walk and raise much-needed research funds to fight birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.

"It's just been great. Really, people have been able to look past the economy and reach down into their hearts for the babies. This community is notorious for being fabulous and always comes out ... to get it done," said Parke Espy, community director of the March of Dimes Midlands Division.

The Centennial Park in the Edisto Memorial Gardens, which was decorated with a colorful sea of orange, purple, yellow and white balloons, was the stage where participants warmed up for the march with a series of lunges, stretches and jumps. This year's walk included a six-mile-long route to cover Middleton Street, Park Street, Broughton Street, Hillsboro, Riverside and through Edisto Memorial Gardens.

The atmosphere was one that one Orangeburg family said it enjoyed.

"This is my first year. I'm excited. Like everybody else, I'm trying to join in on the fun," said Orangeburg resident Kelvin Ryant, who was joined at the March by his wife, Roxie, and their daughters Desai, 9, and Madison, who donned pink sunglasses and will celebrate her first birthday on April 20.

"It's all for a good, worthy cause, and you support each other. I feel it is a very good thing to see everybody get together and have fun. We're supposed to help each other," Ryant said.

The 2009 March for Babies, formerly WalkAmerica, is the March of Dimes' premier fund-raising event that benefits healthy babies along with those who need help to survive and thrive. Espy said the March for Babies will help through a fund-raising goal of $67,000, which she felt confident the event would reach.

"We're looking to come in right around that. We don't have our final numbers yet, but it's been a good year considering everything that's going on," Espy said. "The communities are great. Outside of the wonderful things that the March of Dimes does to educate and provide funding for research, it (March for Babies) is also just a great way to bond the community together for a common cause."

She said families who have experienced premature birth can also use the event as a way to form relationships with other families who have had similar experiences.

"It develops a community where they can all come together and find somebody who knows what they've been through. I just really think it's great to get involved," Espy said.

Larry Rivers is the advisor for the Delta Alpha Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. at Claflin University. He is also president of the fraternity's Iota Lambda Chapter in Denmark. Rivers was joined at the March for Babies event with a few of his fraternity brothers.

"Alpha Phi Alpha and the March of Dimes have a partnership through our Project Alpha Program. We do a lot of work with the walk to support the March of Dimes," he said.

The Project Alpha Program is a collaborative project of the March of Dimes and the fraternity that is designed to provide education, motivation and skill-building on issues of responsibility, relationships, teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases for young males ages 12 to 15. Rivers said the fraternity works to participate in the walk every year.

"Over the last couple of years, the chapter at Claflin has been the number one fund-raiser for Alphas in the state. The grad chapter in Denmark is the number one fund-raiser among Alphas in the state for the grad chapters," he said.

The March of Dimes is a national voluntary health agency founded in 1938. Last year, the South Carolina March of Dimes spent more than $4.2 million in program services, including research grants and local community services.

Individuals interested in contributing to the March of Dimes can call in a donation to 803-252-5200 or mail a donation to: March of Dimes, Midlands Division, South Carolina Chapter, 240 Stoneridge Drive, One Greystone Building, Suite 206, Columbia, SC 29210-8013.

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T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5534. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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