ASU’s March of Dimes club, which returned after several years of inactivity, has raised more than $2,700 in preparation for Phoenix’s March for Babies on Saturday.
Film and media production sophomore Jared Doles, the club’s president, said each of the group’s members has a different connection to the March of Dimes cause.
“We’re small but mighty,” Doles said. “We’re comprised of people from a bunch of different backgrounds united behind the idea of saving lives.”
Doles first became involved in March of Dimes in high school where he participated in Key Club International, a community service organization partnered with March of Dimes.
Last year, Doles became part of the March of Dimes National Youth Council and participated in the walk with Circle K International, the college equivalent of Key Club. Many of the members of the March of Dimes club are also part of Circle K International.
This is first year an ASU club has been completely devoted to the cause.
“I love all charities, but very few are as high-reaching or have such an impact,” Doles said.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt founded the March of Dimes in 1938 to combat polio, but the organization’s focus switched to preventing premature birth and birth defects in the 1960s after the polio vaccine became readily available.
Finance and supply chain management senior Joseph Schibi, one of the club’s officers and another member of the March of Dimes National Youth Council, has volunteered with the cause since he was a high school freshman.
Schibi said he walked each year for his mother’s brother, who was born prematurely and died before his first birthday. He said many babies born prematurely have lived because of March of Dimes funding.
“Everyone’s connected to this,” Schibi said. “We were all babies at one point, and we all know babies now.”
As of Wednesday, he has personally raised $700 for the March of Dimes this year and plans to raise at least $300 more leading up to Saturday’s walk. Five members are registered to attend the 3.5-mile walk in downtown Phoenix on Saturday.
Mina Ahmad, a coordinator senior for Changemaker Central and the club’s advisor, said she was impressed to see the club’s progress in its first year. The club has about 15 active members who have raised $2,739 for the cause.
“I’m very impressed that students who weren’t personally affected by prematurity or birth defects are doing so much,” Ahmad said. “They will be impacting babies they’ll probably never meet.”
Reach the reporter at julia.shumway@asu.edu or follow @JMShumway on Twitter.
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