Walked 25 Miles With Spirit

Illustrations of yellow stars with red text on them on a red background with yellow text at the bottom

The March of Dimes Foundation hosts an annual walkathon event with over 1000 communities participating across the United States. March of Dimes was founded by President Franklin D Roosevelt in 1938 as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which worked to combat and helped to fund the cure for polio. The mission grew after the discovery of the polio vaccine to include work on preventing birth defects and infant mortality as well as the funding of research to prevent premature births. March of Dimes is a leader in the fight for the health of all moms and babies to survive and thrive—working to help every baby get the best possible start they can.

The first March of Dimes walkathon took place in 1970 and was the first charitable walking event to take place in the country. The 1976 walkathon theme was a “spirit walk” which encouraged participants to “walk with sprit.”