March of Dimes

Hello. We are the March of Dimes, and we have been working to help families for a very long time. Our story begins in 1938, when we were founded by the President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Back then, we had a different name. We were called the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. Our first mission was very specific and very important: to fight a serious disease called polio. Polio was a sickness that affected many people, especially children, and it could make it hard for them to walk or even breathe. Families across the country were scared of polio, and they wanted to find a way to stop it.

To fight this disease, we needed to raise money for research. A famous radio star named Eddie Cantor helped us with a brilliant idea. He asked everyone listening to his show to send dimes directly to the White House to help our cause. He called it the “March of Dimes.” The name was a perfect fit, and the idea was a huge success. Millions of people from all over the country mailed their dimes. It showed that even a small coin could make a big difference when many people joined together to help. This popular fundraising campaign gave us the money we needed to begin our important work, and it also gave us the name that we would one day make our own.

We used the money that people so generously donated to support the work of talented scientists. Our goal was to fund the research that would lead to a cure or a vaccine for polio. A vaccine is a special kind of medicine that teaches your body how to fight off a disease before you get sick. We provided funding to many researchers who were dedicated to solving the puzzle of polio. Among them were brilliant scientists like Dr. Jonas Salk and Dr. Albert Sabin. They worked for years in their laboratories, and the dimes sent by ordinary people helped pay for their equipment and experiments.

Then, in 1955, came a day of incredible celebration. We were able to announce to the world that the polio vaccine developed by Dr. Salk was safe and effective. It was a major breakthrough that families had been hoping for. This news brought so much relief and joy across the nation and around the world. It meant that children could be protected from polio. The success of the vaccine was a huge victory for science and for every single person who had mailed in a dime. Our first great mission had been a success, and we had helped make history.

After this wonderful achievement, we knew our work wasn't finished. With the threat of polio greatly reduced, we had an important decision to make. We decided to take on a new challenge and use what we had learned to help people in a different way. We turned our attention to a new mission: helping mothers have healthy pregnancies and giving all babies a healthy start in life. To show everyone what our new focus was, we officially changed our name. In 1979, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis became the March of Dimes. We chose this name to honor the fundraising campaign that started it all and to remember the power of a community coming together.

Today, our work continues with the same dedication. Our modern mission is to prevent birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality, which is when a baby dies before their first birthday. We fight for the health of all moms and babies. We do this by funding new and important research to understand why some babies are born too early or with health problems. We also create educational resources to give parents the information they need to have a healthy pregnancy. And when a baby is born sick and needs to stay in the hospital, we are there to support the family through that difficult time. We are proud of our history, and we remain committed to our goal of giving every baby the best possible start in life.