Almost 70 years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Class of 1904, and a former Crimson editor, became alarmed by the worsening polio epidemics that were killing or paralyzing thousands of children and adults in the U.S. each year. The nation was deep into the Depression. Money was desperately needed to provide care for polio patients as well as to support research to find a vaccine against the dreaded disease. Roosevelt knew first-hand the devastation caused by polio—he himself was affected by it in 1921, and never walked unaided again.

So he authorized a radio appeal urging every American to send a dime directly to the President to help beat polio. The first days of this “March of Dimes” campaign produced a disappointing $17.50. However, a few days later, mail trucks started arriving at the White House. First there were 30,000 letters, then 50,000, and 150,000 the next day. Desks, offices, and corridors were buried in mail sacks. A total of 2,680,000 dimes had been sent. With this outpouring of generosity from ordinary Americans, Roosevelt established the nonprofit health agency known today as the March of Dimes. It was a unique grassroots organization that brought together volunteers and scientists from across the country with a common purpose. The March of Dimes went on to become “the gold standard for philanthropies devoted to eliminating diseases,” The New York Times noted on April 12, 2005.

The March of Dimes supported the development of both the Salk and Sabin polio vaccines that eradicated polio in the U.S. Then the organization reinvented itself with a new mission. Today, it works to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and other causes of infant death and disability.

However, the March of Dimes remains a truly grassroots organization, still supported and led by volunteers—including young people who serve on the national Board of Trustees and the boards of every chapter in the nation.

It still depends on the support of the public, primarily through events such as the annual March of Dimes WalkAmerica, which is held each spring in more than 1,000 communities nationwide. In 2005, the March of Dimes spent more than 76 percent of all the money it raised on programs to improve the health of babies. It spends more than $31 million annually funding the work of more than 425 scientists in the U.S., Canada, and seven other counties. That includes $5.2 million in grants awarded to Harvard researchers just in the years 2001-2005.

In recent years, March of Dimes-funded research grantees have helped develop:

—Surfactant therapy, which saves the lives of babies born with immature lungs;

—Drug treatments to replace surgery for babies with a common heart defect;

—Treatment to help prevent severe newborn jaundice and resulting brain damage;

—Testing of drug treatment for the prevention of transmission of the AIDS virus from mothers to their babies;

—Nitric oxide as a treatment for critically ill preterm newborns with dangerously high blood pressure in their lungs;

—Newborn screening tests to identify treatable conditions that would otherwise result in permanent brain damage or death.

When the March of Dimes decided to focus its efforts on improving the health of babies, the Crimson supported the idea of the organization’s taking on a new leading role. “Responding in this appeal in their generous and sympathetic manner, Americans can help the March of Dimes conquer another health menace,” the Crimson said on April 28, 1955.

Today a new epidemic is sweeping the United States—premature birth. The prematurity rate has jumped more than 30 percent since 1981, and more than 500,000 babies are born too soon every year. Prematurity is now the leading cause of death in newborns, and babies who survive often face lifelong challenges of cerebral palsy, mental retardation, chronic lung disease, vision and hearing loss, as well as other developmental problems. Just as the March of Dimes once focused the nation’s attention on polio and conquered it, today it addresses the increasing rate of prematurity by raising public awareness and funding more research to identify the causes of premature birth.

Students for Healthy Babies, a new organization on Harvard’s campus, shares the March of Dimes goals and supports its efforts. You can help by participating in WalkAmerica (an event actually started by college students). You can help by raising your voice on behalf of policies that benefit mothers and children. And this fall, you can help raise awareness of the growing crisis of prematurity by lighting up your dorm, house, campus, and self in pink and blue to celebrate Prematurity Awareness Day, November 14.

Michele Kling is the director of media relations for the White Plains-based March of Dimes. Visit the college section of marchofdimes.com/youth for more information on these activities, and join over a million youth volunteers for the March of Dimes nationwide.