NORWAY – Residents will join people across the nation Saturday in raising money and awareness of infant health issues during WalkAmerica.

Participants will begin a six-mile walk from KeyBank in Norway at 1 p.m. May 5. The event benefits the March of Dimes foundation.

Patty Skillings, an office coordinator at the March of Dimes, said WalkAmerica events are the largest fundraisers for the foundation.

Walkers are asked to solicit donations from family, co-workers and friends.

Lynn Hamper, an organizer for the walk in Oxford Hills, said residents raised $23,219 in 2006, and she hopes to reach $27,000 this year.

“The babies from the Oxford Hills need our help,” Hamper said in a news release. “By being a part of WalkAmerica, we can help save babies and give hope to families.”

The March of Dimes Web site notes 460,000 premature infants and 120,000 infants with birth defects are born each year.

WalkAmerica was established in 1970 and has raised more than $1.7 billion for the March of Dimes since its inception, its Web site states.

The March of Dimes, originally called the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938. Its original goal was to combat polio in infants, but it has since changed its focus to such issues as premature childbirth, birth defects, and other causes related to infant health.

The organization received its nickname from comedian Eddie Cantor, who urged people to send their dimes directly to the White House to support the organization’s cause. The foundation officially changed its name to the March of Dimes in 1979.