ONCE UPON A DIME: (This is a book giveaway)

Vintage March of Dimes poster given me by the family of one of my experts, a wonderful physiotherapist who worked with polio patients.

Once upon a time, the March of Dimes fundraising campaign was held for 2 weeks in January. It culminated on Franklin D. Roosevelt's birthday (Jan. 30) with Birthday Balls in cities across the nation.

After all, FDR was the man who inspired this organization. It was called the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis until Eddie Cantor, a radio comedian, got the idea to ask children across America to send a dime to the President. Cantor called it the March of Dimes.

Within days, the White House mailroom was overwhelmed with dimes (268,000.00 worth)! Official White House mail got lost in the morass of dimes. I don't think the MOD repeated that exact scenario again! But it did collect money in hundreds of creative ways which constitute an amazing heartwarming story.

For decades, the MOD funded polio related needs: hospital care, crtuches, iron lungs, and vaccine research. By 1955 we had a vaccine!

There'd always been people who felt that the MOD money should help with other causes. So, after the vaccine, March of Dimes changed its focus. Since 1958 it has benefitted babies with birth defects. And somewhere along the way, the campaign switched to April.
MOD is a tremendous organization as any family who has had a baby with special medical needs will tell you! But this year in "this economy" fundraising is down.

So, here's where I make good on the book giveaway. My new book, COMFORT, the sequel to BLUE is hot off the press. And I want to give a copy to you. Here's how you can get it.

1. Participate in the March of Dimes (suggested donation - 10.00). (This would be a great time for me to be Neil Gaimen, Cynthia Lord, or Laurie Halse Anderson - think how much money we could raise! )
2. Leave me a comment, telling me that you contributed. (I don't need to know the amount, but feel free to share stories.)
3. Link to this post or copy the contents into your blog. (If you don't blog, send out emails with this blog address.)

Since April is practically over, I'm going to give this contest 2 weeks. On May 9, I'll pull a name out of my comment reservoir and announce a winner. I hope your name is on the list!

How you can contribute to the March of Dimes

a. Join a Walk for Dimes event.
b. Sponsor someone who is particpating in a Walk for Dimes.
c. Drop money into a jar at your local bank.
d. Buy a few of those March of Dimes stuffed animal babies offered at your bank.
e. Click here to donate online.

Sources:

Patenting the Sun: Polio and the Salk Vaccine by Jane S. Smith

Four Billion Dimes by Victor Cohn

Images of America: March of Dimes by David W. Rose

YESTERDAY IN HISTORY

Around 1:00 in the afternoon on August 12, 1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt was working at this card table in his beloved Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia. An artist, Elizabeth Shoumatoff was painting his portrait.
A friend and neighbor, Daisy Stuckley was one of several people in the room at the time. Daisy was sitting on the couch (crocheting) when she noticed that something was wrong with Roosevelt. She went to his side to see if she could help.

In an audio recording, Daisy recalls that FDR said, "I'm having such terrific pain in the back of my head".

His doctor was called. Franklin Roosevelt was carried to his bed in the next room.
In her eye witness account, Daisy Suckley said, "We all knew what was going to happen."

The doctor did what he could but there was so little to be done. In just a few hours, at 5:48 pm regular radio programming across the United States was interrupted with this blunt announcement. "We interrupt this program to bring you a special news bulletin from CBS World News. A press association has just announced that President Roosevelt is dead! The president died of a cerebral hemorrhage. All we know so far is that the president died at WS in Georgia."

In BLUE my character Ann Fay did not hear the announcement directly. But she knew the exact moment when it took place.

"It was late in the day when I heard a big commotion at the nurse's station. I was stuck in my bed, but I could tell something important had happened in the world. The nurse at the other end of the ward went rushing out of the room, saying "Oh dear God in heaven. What will America do now?"...

I was sliding out of my bed, fixing to get into that wheelchair, when Harvey stepped into the room. His lips was trembling, but he put his finger over them and we all got quiet. I seen his Adam's apple sliding up and down in his neck and I knew something had really upset him.

Finally Harvey spoke. "It's our president," he said. "Mr Franklin Delano Roosevelt died this afternoon at his polio place in Warm Springs, Georgia."

And then Harvey's face twisted, and he walked away quick before we seen him cry.

It was a day that will live in history...