The March for Babies: BNSF employees, families ‘step’ up to help

BNSF is proud to be a part of the Dallas-Fort Worth community, and that’s why 50 employees and family members participated in the March for Babies in Fort Worth. For the first time since the pandemic, the three-mile walk was back in full force.

The March for Babies is sponsored by the March of Dimes, a non-profit organization with a goal to improve the health of all mothers and babies through research, education and advocacy programs. The ultimate goal is zero infant and childbirth deaths. This year, the local walk raised $37,000, and the Dallas – Fort Worth March for Babies campaign raised over $1 million dollars.

Beth Corley, mechanical administration manager at BNSF, described this year’s march as “a sea of people to support March of Dimes.”

Corley first walked the march in 2016 and has organized a BNSF team since 2017. “One of our BNSF leaders got involved in 2016, and it has continued over the years,” she said. “Through the program, you find out just how much the March of Dimes has helped people. The BNSF family is connected in so many different ways, and so many people have shared their stories.”

One of those stories comes from the Millers.

Each March for Babies walk has an ambassador family, one that represents the purpose of the campaign and can speak about their experience with March of Dimes. This year, Fort Worth’s ambassador family was the Millers. Ryan and Darlene Miller both work at BNSF — he is a manager of locomotive utilization, and she works in the Engineering department’s Workforce Management team. They benefitted from the March of Dimes when their twin boys were born.

“Our experience with March of Dimes comes from the research March of Dimes has done over the years and provided to the medical world,” explained Ryan Miller. “Our babies have all gone through the Apgar test when born, which is a test March of Dimes funded research for. This is one of many ways our family felt the influence of March of Dimes when our children were born, but especially when our twins were born because they were born premature.” The Apgar test is a measurement of a baby’s condition 1-5 minutes after birth which allows healthcare professionals to decide whether immediate treatment or monitoring is needed.

“We got involved with March of Dimes because we wanted to participate and support such a great cause that provides so much support for the health of moms and babies,” Miller added. “At the time we joined, we were also supporting our family and friends who had been affected by difficult pregnancies and premature births.”

With the help of March of Dimes, the Millers and their babies received immediate care following delivery complications. Today the babies are healthy, and the Millers are giving back to the organization that helped them.

BNSF is proud to be involved in the community. In addition to our employees walking the walk, BNSF contributes through the BNSF Railway Foundation. The foundation donated $25,000 in the 2022 March for Babies campaign, and the BNSF corporate team received a second-place award for raising funds. If you’re interested in participating with BNSF in next year’s March for Babies or learning more about BNSF’s involvement with March of Dimes, please contact MarchofDimes@bnsf.com.