Golden Key hosts 5K March of Dimes walk/run
Sophomore Miranda Ruiter was born about a month early and, as a result, has a Ventricular Septal Defect which left her with a hole in her heart between her ventricles.
That’s why she’s an advocate for the March of Dimes mission — to improve the health of babies.
“This is something that I feel strongly about in helping this cause,” Ruiter said. “I want to get as many other people to care about it as much as I do.”
The March of Dimes 5K walk/run starts at 5:15 p.m. in the Muenster University Center east lawn April 23.
The walk, also known as March for Babies, is put on by the University of South Dakota’s Golden Key Honor Society.
Golden Key is an organization that supports a few fundraisers each year, including Shavetober and March of Dimes. Members are graduate and undergraduate students in the top 15 percent of their class.
“We just do a lot of different philanthropy events and then we like to keep updated on what other people are doing around campus and getting involved,” Ruiter, soon-to-be vice president of Golden Key, said.
Ken Green, Golden Key adviser, said when the organization was looking to become more involved in charities three years ago, March of Dimes was chosen because of one officer’s connection with the event.
Chandler Hunt, now a first-year medical student, was a sophomore and the Golden Key secretary at the time.
When she was six, her twin brothers were born three months prematurely and spent 96 days in the hospital as a result. She said March of Dimes offers families like hers support and a sense of community.
“I like the fact that there is a support system out there and that the March of Dimes is out there to help,” Hunt said. “You’re not as alone.”
Although Green hasn’t been personally affected by the March of Dimes cause, he still believes it’s a meaningful cause.
“I have kids, so it’s important to me,” Green said. “And obviously the idea of raising money to study and to help with premature births and pregnancy health is a wonderful cause.”
Golden Key has partnered with Student Nurses Association, American Indian Science and Engineering Society and National Society of Leadership and Success to put on the walk.
Last year’s walk raised $1,565.
This is the second year the 5K has been held in Vermillion. Previously, Golden Key members travelled to Sioux City to participate.
Carla Thielbar, the March of Dimes senior community director, handles most of the state walks. She said Vermillion is unique, “because it is very much run by the students.”
Thielbar said March of Dimes is important because of its influence on legislature advocacy, education for mothers and healthcare workers and support for families coping with premature birth.
She said prenatal care, ultrasounds and the neonatal intensive care unit, NICU, are ideas that came from March of Dimes research.
“We’re the leading organization looking at improving the health of babies and looking at the problems that moms and babies face today. So we’re really about all babies,” Theilbar said. “We like to say that if you’ve had a baby, know a baby or been a baby, you’ve been touched by the March of Dimes.”
(Photo: March of Dimes is a leading national organization that influences legislation and advocacy for mothers, families, and children dealing with premature birth. File photo / The Volante)
