Senate Update: Senator honored to lend a hand to charity

I am honored to be the Marion County March for Babies chairman. The 2009 Marion County March for Babies fundraising campaign kicked off on Aug.18.
I would like to thank all of you that participated in the past. Last year the March of Dimes distributed more than $630,000 in community grant funding to projects improving the health of South Carolina’s moms and babies.
We need the continued support and help of corporations, communities, and individuals to continue working for stronger healthier South Carolinian babies. Through life saving research we beat polio, but we continue our efforts to help children today by working to save babies from the silent crisis of premature birth.
In 2008, the March of Dimes made progress in the following areas: NICU Family Support® sites, where families can go for expert knowledge and comfort during that frightening time while their baby is in the NICU reached more than 50,000 families with a baby in newborn intensive care every year. Advocacy efforts to expand newborn screening were successful, and every state now mandates testing for at least 21 serious but treatable conditions.
The Surgeon General’s Conference on Preterm Birth produced an action agenda to reduce the prematurity rate. The first-ever Premature Birth Report Card brought much-needed attention to the growing problem of prematurity. Plus the March of Dimes invested $26.8 million in new research grants to better understand and eventually prevent birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.
Participating in March for Babies is an important and easy way to support the cause of healthy babies. You can walk to celebrate a baby in your life or to honor a child that did not survive. If we work together we can prevent premature birth and infant health problems so that no parent will have to see their child in and NICU unit. More than half a million U.S. babies - one in every eight are born premature each year, a toll that's risen steadily for two decades. Rest assured that the money raised is going to the mission of babies. In fact in South Carolina 95 cents of every dollar that we receive from corporate sponsorships and individual donations goes to the cause. The March for Babies event will be held Nov. 7 at Marion County Medical Center.
Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m. and the walk will start at 10 a.m. I hope to see you there.
It is an honor to serve you in Columbia, and I am grateful for your continued support. As with all matters concerning state government, I want to hear your opinions and suggestions concerning these issues.
Please contact me in my Columbia office located at 602 Gressette Office Building. You can reach me, or a member of my staff in Columbia at (803) 212-6008 or by fax at (803) 212-6011. My district office is located at 137 Airport Road, Suite J, Mullins, SC 29574, the phone number is (843) 423-8237 and the fax number is (843) 431-6049. You may also email me at KENTWILLIAMS@scsenate.gov.
My business phone is (843) 423-3904. Please use this information to write, call or email me with your suggestions and concerns regarding issues before the Senate and in our community.