[2] Seventy-six cents of every dollar raised in March for Babies is spent on research and programs to help prevent these issues.
The weather conditions at the Columbus walkathon were depicted as "absolutely miserable [with] rain, cold and bone chilling winds, which did not abate at all during the walking period.
"[citation needed] Yet the 500 walkers at Columbus pledged $64,687 to the March of Dimes, engendering a fund-raising methodology that quickly became national in scope and that perpetuated the enthusiasm of volunteers on which the foundation built its reputation.
Successful walkers received the Order of the Battered Boot certificate for their participation, and the foundation created a film, The Big Walk (1973), to document and promote the event.
The first person to walk for the March of Dimes was John Harrison Finger, a textile worker in High Point, North Carolina.
In what is thought to be the first walkathon in March of Dimes history, Finger walked 32 miles — round trip from High Point to Greensboro — and collected a total of $1,700 in a red wagon he pulled behind him.