Aidan Lamothe, 6, the 2014 March of Dimes
national ambassador, strikes a coin, which
he gets to keep
WEST POINT – Coins can change the world, and that is the hope of the March of Dimes commemorative silver dollar struck Wednesday at the US Mint at West Point.
The face of the coin has profiles of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Dr. Jonas Salk. Roosevelt was disabled by polio and Salk invented the first effective vaccine against the disease.
On the tail of the coin is a tiny premature baby nestled in a parent’s hand. The two side of the coin depict the work of the March of Dimes fighting polio and premature birth.
On hand at the Mint to strike the first of the half million coins that will be pressed were Dr. Peter Salk, son of Jonas Salk, and Aidan Lamothe, 6, who was born 12 weeks premature and benefited from the work of the March of Dimes.
Jill Lamothe, Aidan’s mother, talked of his early birth and the ups and downs of having a baby in the neonatal intensive care unit.
“He was so small that (her husband) Dave’s wedding ring could fit on his wrist like a bracelet,” Lamothe said. “We have a happy ending thanks to the important work of the March of Dimes.”
The March of Dimes, originally called the National Foundation for Infantile
Paralysis, got the name we know it by today from a fundraising effort
of Roosevelt who called upon Americans to send one or more dimes to the
White House to help find a cure for polio. The result was literally truckloads
of dimes mostly from children wanting to help other children get well,
Salk noted.
“It’s the huge number of people who contributed dime, by dime, by dime that’s all come together on this coin,” Salk said.
It’s fitting that Roosevelt who had polio himself, and is pictured on the dime, be pictured alongside Salk on yet another coin, he said.
After the costs of production are recouped by the Mint all of the proceeds from the $10 surcharge on each coin will go the March of Dimes, potentially as much as $3 million, said organization President Dr. Jennifer Howes.
“The March of Dimes began with the dime and volunteers and we conquered polio. And today with this beautiful silver dollar we will end premature birth,” said Dr. Jennifer Howes, president of the March of Dimes.
Salk and US Treasurer Rosa Rios show off the new coin
which goes on sale through the US Mint on Friday
