March for Babies New Orleans Division

This past Saturday, the New Orleans Moms Blog hosted its 2nd Annual Easter Egg Hunt. It was a huge success and fun was had by all in attendance. In addition to all the delicious goodies for the kiddos, there were awesome raffles that benefited the March of Dimes. The March of Dimes is near and dear to our hearts as one of our co-founders has a premature daughter, and I’m the mother of a micropreemie. We can’t thank our awesome sponsors enough for their donations that helped benefit our cause.

This year we raffled off some really amazing prizes and were able to raise money for the March of Dimes, a cause very important to us. Thank you so much to all of our amazing community partners that provided the raffle prizes. We couldn’t have had such an amazing raffle without your generosity!

Where Your Money Goes

WhereYourMoneyGoes_posterWe are happy to report that with your help we raised over $1,300 for the March of Dimes. How incredible is that? The March of Dimes gives 77 cents of every dollar raised towards the mission, and it stays local! Locally, the March of Dimes has mobile health centers that provide prenatal and well baby care to women and infants.

One of the March of Dimes fundraisers is March for Babies. March for Babies started in 1970 and $2.3 billion has been raised to help support babies. Wow! The money raised during the march funds important research and programs that help babies begin healthy lives.

With money raised from the March of Dimes grants, surfactant was developed and introduced in 1990. My son Liam was given this when he was born at only 15oz, and I believed it helped his lungs tremendously. Since the breakthrough of surfactant, deaths from RDS have been reduced by two-thirds. That’s just amazing!

The March of Dimes has been such a blessing to our family and has given life hope and life to babies like my son Liam. I am passionate in this mission and so thankful of it’s existence.  It is because of reasons like this that I decided to form a team for March for Babies.

Team Leaping Liam

CollagesThis is my family’s third year participating in the March for Babies walk. For our first walk in 2012, my micropreemie Liam was only home for a few months from East Jefferson’s NICU. He was just learning all the basics and was attempting to sit up and smile. Last year, he was toddling and walking slowly as he was mastering learning how to walk.

And this year? Well, he is running laps around us all while we try to catch him! This year is especially special for us because Liam is the 2014 March for Babies Ambassador for the New Orleans Area. This is such a huge honor for our family we absolutely can’t wait for Saturday.

Please consider joining us on Saturday, March 29th at LaSalle Park on Airline in Metairie. Registration is free and you can sign up here. There will be food, bounce houses, an egg hunt and a special appearance by Gumbo and Sir Saint. It’s a fun and family friendly event that you don’t want to miss! We hope to see you there!

Mary Olivio
Mary is a caffeine addicted boy mom to Noah, Liam and Luke. This “stay at home” mom can typically been found cruising in her minivan, jamming to Beyonce with a Starbucks in hand on her way to carpool or after school activities. Mary has been married to her high school sweetheart since 2007. She is a founder of Delivering Hope NOLA and the Vanessa Wolff Scholarship Fund at her Alma Mater. Mary is passionate in the local preemie community and has been heavily involved with the March of Dimes since her sons Liam and Luke were born premature.

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