Last evening, Wednesday October 19, 2011, was the March of Dimes Signature Chef's Auction. This is the 6th annual benefit held at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge, Maryland. As a volunteer for the March of Dimes and as part of my Service Learning component for Regis University, I assisted in procuring the Ambassador Family and Fund the Mission Speaker, as well as provided a group of volunteers to help set-up the event and and provide services during the event.
"The mission of the March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. The March of Dimes carries out this mission through programs of research, community services, education and advocacy" (March of Dimes, 2011).
For me, the service involved a 4 hour planning session where I worked closely with the Eastern Shore Chapter event staff, Nicole Scharf and Wendy Jarrett. These two extraordinary women work diligently to advance the mission of the March of Dimes in our region. They work tirelessly on benefits such as this, to raise funds and awareness regarding the values and vision of this organization. My small role involved brainstorming and recruiting. I was instrumental in providing them with the family who was chosen to be the Ambassador Family this year. Heather Rudd, RN is a colleague and fellow NICU nurse. She has always been a wonderful NICU nurse, but last year she delivered her own premature infant and experienced the parent side of a NICU preemie. She graciously put herself and her family out there to advance the mission of the March of Dimes. Heather told her story to over 200 people at a black-tie affair. Her presentation was exemplary. She gave both perspectives related to being a NICU nurse and being a parent of a preemie. Her story brought tears of both sympathy and joy as her son struggled to survive and eventually triumph to become the robust 1 year old he is today!
My other role was to recruit 3-4 volunteers to help during the event night. Heather helped, as well as Heather Preston and Irene Schultz. We are all NICU nurses and the March of Dimes is near and dear to all of our hearts for various reasons. The four of us helped set -up the room, we were responsible for setting up the Mission table which part of this display is pictured above. This picture that I took was used as the backdrop on the projector screen behind Heather when she spoke! Anyhow, we set up the table and around the room set up the pedestals where mission boards of other families were placed. These mission boards show pictures of infants during their NICU stay and also a most recent picture, taken by families. They also tell a brief story written by the parents. In front of each picture, is a bag of candy, flour, rice or other food that is filled to the equal weight of the baby at birth. It is a startling reminder of just how fragile these infants are, but also a testament to their resilience. In the picture above, you can see a bag of rice. It tells the story of Lily's weight and if the parents had used rice at their wedding (instead of bubbles) they would only have had enough rice for 25 of their 100 guests.
During the event, Heather Preston helped with the wine/ring toss. A $10 dollar donation bought a person 3 rings to chance winning a bottle of wine. Irene was the auction pole carrier, during the live auction she was the holder of the numbered sign boards that directed bidders on the auction item number. I manned the mission table to provide information on funding the mission. We also were able to enjoy the repast with gusto! Excellent food, excellent service to the March of Dimes and excellent giving from many individuals in both time and in money. It was heartwarming to see the dedication of so many individuals.
I learn so much from so many during my service learning hours and this was another great opportunity to see our community's giving spirit.
Thank you,
Angie Houck
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