March of Dimes March for Babies in Sacramento
Recently, Raiderettes Jessica and Tori participated in the March of Dimes March for Babies in Sacramento. Jessica and Tori walked five miles with Raider fan Lori Edgars, who had lost her baby girl, lending support, listening to different families' stories, and sharing in the emotion of the special event.
According to the March of Dimes website, "March of Dimes March for Babies is the longest-running and most widely recognized walking event in the nation, generating more than $1.5 billion for the March of Dimes over its 42-year history. This fundraiser incorporates thousands of volunteers participating in a fun-filled day of walking to raise money to support lifesaving research and programs to make sure every baby gets a chance for a healthy start in life."
"Every year in the United States, more than half a million babies are born too soon, 53,000 of them right here in California," states the website. "We work to improve the health of babies and support families if something does go wrong."
Both Jessica and Tori were honored to represent the Raiderettes and the Raiders at the Sacramento walk. "The Raiders are not just a football team and the organization is not just an organization," said Tori. "We do a lot of things in the community and I was honestly honored to be there with one of the biggest fans and Black Hole members. It was just an amazing feeling to know how big of an impact we are. We like to help the community; I thought it was amazing. [Lori] had said, 'thank you for being here, we really appreciate it.' And I said, 'no, thank you for allowing us to be here. I feel really honored to be here and help out for everyone.'"
"For the Raiderettes being there, it just shows that the Raider organization cares so much about different organizations, different charity events," added Jessica. "March of Dimes gets overlooked, not a lot of people know about it in general. So it was definitely good for us to go out there and help open everyone's eyes to something that is so important because children's health is very important."
While the two Raiderettes had an impact on the community, the participants in the Sacramento March of Dimes March for Babies had an equally powerful impact on Jessica and Tori. "A lot of people didn't have the technology that [March of Dimes] is trying to provide for everybody, so it meant a lot to be out there and see all these other people," said Jessica. "Personally, I got really emotional hearing all the people's stories, either being blessed because their babies were saved or whose children had passed away. So being there and listening to them and just hearing what they had to say meant so much to me."
The Raiderette veterans left the walk emotional, but happy to have participated. "I felt like it had a huge impact [on me] because this is my first time doing this walk and to just to hear everyone's stories of their lives, them getting help from March of Dimes, or maybe some of them not making it, I felt really honored to be there and help support the people who are still going through it or they came out of it," said Tori.
