Help lay down miles of dimes on LHS track for March of Dimes fund-raiser Saturday

LINCOLN - It's all about dimes.

Called the Mile of Dimes, the premise is simple: Bring your dimes to the Lincoln High School track Oct. 31 to lay side by side in the hope of reaching a mile in length.

The event is a fund-raiser to benefit the March of Dimes, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to prevent premature birth, birth defects and infant mortality.

The Mile of Dimes event is being organized by LHS student Katie Coutu. Several weeks into her exhibition class at Lincoln High School, the 16-year-old knew that she wanted to hold a fund-raising event to support the March of Dimes and to also raise awareness of the organization and its goals. The March of Dimes has been a passion of hers for a long time, said Coutu, sitting in the Lincoln Library on a Saturday afternoon in mid-October. She first got involved with the organization eight years ago when her mom, Jane Coutu, participated in a fund-raising walk with the company she worked for.

"I went along and walked," Katie recalled, adding that her mom was the volunteer coordinator for the organization's 2009 Rhode Island March for Babies event held in April. An older sister, Emily, got involved with the March of Dimes through the Future Business Leaders of America Club at Lincoln High School. Since then, Coutu's been involved with the leader and pioneer in the fight to save babies in various other fundraisers, along with family members.

Coutu planned the Mile of Dimes to coordinate with Halloween. She's hoping folks will stop by for a day of fun and excitement. She's putting together a carnival-type event on the high school's football field. She sought permission to do so from school administrators.

She also presented her project idea at last week's Parent Teacher Organization. Members, she said, gave her some worthwhile ideas that she plans to use in planning her event.

After school let out last week, she distributed 2,000 flyers about the event to all Lincoln schools in the district.

Coutu suggests kids and the young-at-heart to come to the Miles of Dimes dressed in costumes. Prizes will be given out. There will be tents and tables with various activities going on. Food and drinks will be available.

Of course, she asks that you save your dimes for the fight to prevent premature birth and birth defects. No dimes, but you've got a dollar bill? Not a problem. A dollar bill, or 10 dimes placed in a row, is the equivalent of 7 inches. Event volunteers, friends recruited by Coutu, will give event-goers a 7-inch strip of tape they can decorate before laying the tape on the quarter-mile track. Coutu hopes that the dimes and the strips of tape will go around the track four times. Her intent is to raise $9,000.

Coutu said a Student Council-sponsored event, Coin Wars, held during Spirit Week, would benefit her fund-raiser.

What has Coutu learned from doing her exhibition project?

"It's a lot of work," she said. But she doesn't flinch at the work. It's all worth it, she said.

Last summer, she visited Women & Infants Hospital and saw firsthand how lifesaving research has saved the lives of babies born prematurely.

The Mile of Dimes event takes place Saturday, Oct. 31 from noon to 5 p.m. at the Lincoln High School football field. Rain date is Nov. 14.

LHS exhibition is a formal presentation, orally and in writing, of a comprehensive research project centered on a student's personal interest. It is a culminating event in a student's high school career which allows every Lincoln High School graduate a chance to show what he or she knows and is able to do.