Hanapepe resident Pua Aviguetaro and her toddler son, Raycyn, walked three miles in the rain and early morning chill yesterday for what she said was a “great cause” for children in Hawai’i and across the nation. “I would have walked
Hanapepe resident Pua Aviguetaro and her toddler son, Raycyn, walked three miles in the rain and early morning chill yesterday for what she said was a “great cause” for children in Hawai’i and across the nation.
“I would have walked 100 miles if I had to do it to raise more money,” Aviguetero said. “It is a great cause.”
Aviguetero joined up to 150 Kauaians who participated in the 2001 Kaua’i WalkAmerica, which was part of a national event by the March of Dimes to raise funds to support research to promote the birth of healthy babies.
The organization’s top priority is to fund efforts to reduce the threat of health of American babies — infant mortality, birth defects, low birthweight and the lack of prenatal care.
The organization’s funds are used for national research and for public education programs in Hawai’i dealing with teen pregnancy, substance abuse, domestic violence, pre-natal care, health and nutrition, said Carmella Hernandez, state director of the March of Dimes on O’ahu.
The Kaua’i walk was expected to generate more than $25,000 for the organization.
“This is the ultimate fund-raiser because it deals with birth,” said event organizer Tiffani Sugai.
The Kaua’i event — the first of a handful to be held in Hawai’i — took participants from the Kukui Grove Center to Dynasty Court, the Ulu Ko residential subdivision and back to the shopping center.
The money that is raised will help Hawai’i’s mothers of the future, Hernandez said. Among the 17,000 children born in the state each year, 800 are born with defects and another 1,400 are born prematurely or undersize, Hernandez said.
Hernandez said smoking during pregnancy causes low birth weight and that drinking alcohol causes fetal alcohol syndrome, which can lead to mental retardation and — in extreme cases — distortion of a baby’s face.
She said many women are not aware of the damage they can do to their children by smoking and drinking during their pregnancies.
“Think how much better the world would be if every baby is born healthy,” Hernandez said. “That is what the March of Dimes is all about.”
Aviguetero said the organization’s mission compelled her to get three other employees from their workplace to join in the walk.
Sherry Moniz and Elena Perreira said they walked to help a meaningful cause. They said they sold $1,100 worth of candy and secured $100 in pledge donations.
Perreira said she wasn’t planing to walk because she had to go to work later in the morning, but decided to join in at the last moment because she “wanted to get involved.”
Gina Ramson, a mother of two, and Julie Foster, both from Lihu’e, said participating in the walk allowed them to kill two birds with one stone — supporting the March of Dimes and getting their morning exercise.
Ed Kanoi, a radio personality with Hits 99 FM said he jumped at the chance to help put together the fund-raiser.
“I am a polio survivor,” he said. “If it wasn’t for an organization like the March of Dimes, I wouldn’t be walking around as well as I do.”
The March of Dimes was established by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, himself a polio victim, in 1938 to beat polio.
With $1 million in March of Dimes support in 1951, scientists identified all three polio virus types. In 1953, Dr. Jonas Salk confirmed the feasibility of a killed-virus vaccine for polio.
After a cure for polio was found, the March of Dimes shifted its attention to fighting the conditions that cause birth defects. Hernandez said there are 3,000 known birth defects.
“We put ourselves out of business when a cure for polio was found, and we want to do it again with birth defects,” she said.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
