Kiwanis family lights a little star

Children everywhere smile, laugh, and run from table to table to play games such as a bean-bag toss or duck pond draw and receive candy and small toy trinkets as prizes. They get temporary tattoos, jump and flip, turning red-faced and laughing in a bounce house—all the kinds of things children love to do. And it’s all in honor of children who came into the world too soon.

Key Club International Board members keep an eye on the bouncing children.

Children stop by the Kiwanis Club of Carmel-North Indy Families’ duck pond draw during the March of Dimes Light a Little Star event.

The March of Dimes Foundation’s Light a Little Star program is a fundraiser which begins as a fun, carnival-like event before becoming a touching reminder of the consequences of premature birth. During a closing ceremony, lights dim and thousands of pink and blue stars glow emergent in honor of the community’s preemie babies—and to show support for the March of Dimes Foundation’s work to give all babies a healthy, full-term start in life.

During a recent meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Key Club International Board participated in a Light a Little Star event along with the Key Club of Carmel High School, Indiana, and the Kiwanis Club of Carmel-North Indy Families.

Light a Little Star is just one of many ways Key Clubs help their spring Season of Service partner, March of Dimes Foundation, with its four main goals: reduce birth defects by 10 percent, reduce infant mortality, reduce low birth weight to no more than 5 percent of all live births, and increase the number of women who get prenatal care in the first trimester.

WalkAmerica, which is the March of Dimes Foundation’s largest fundraiser, typically takes place in late April.

Here’s how to find a March of Dimes chapter near you to see how your club can become involved.