LIFE
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Midweek Edition - May 13-14, 2020 3B
March for Babies steps into new campaign
Times file photo
Ambassador family parents Abby and Ryan Burle, from left
to right, with their children, Miller, Max and Maggie, walk
during the March for Babies on Saturday, April 27, 2019.
BY KELSEY P0D0
kpodo@gainesvilletimes.com
Nine minutes after Devon
Stoneburg of Flowery
Branch learned that she had
a life-threatening pregnancy
complication, she was taken
into surgery for a caesarean
section.
Her baby Isla came into
the world on Oct. 26, 2018, at
only 2 pounds and 8.6 ounces.
Her original due date was
Jan. 9,2019.
“She came at 29 weeks,
and this was our first child,”
Stoneburg said. “It was terri
fying. We were not prepared
for it.”
Before giving birth to Isla
at the Northeast Georgia
Medical Center in Gaines
ville, Stoneburg said she was
diagnosed with preeclamp
sia, which involves having
abnormally high blood pres
sure. The complication then
led to HELLP syndrome, a
variant of preeclampsia that
includes liver failure.
While at the hospital,
Stoneburg received a ste
roid injection in her thigh,
which allowed Isla’s lungs to
develop faster. If she had not
taken the shot, she said her
baby would’ve been put on a
respirator.
The research that devel
oped the injection was
funded by the March of
Dimes, Stoneburg said.
Thanks to the care
received at the neonatal
intensive care unit and the
efforts of March of Dimes,
Isla is now a healthy and
happy baby.
Stoneburg and her hus
band Andrew have part
nered with March of Dimes
in Hall County as this year’s
ambassadors.
“One thing about being
March of Dimes ambassa
dors, is that we’ve met many
families not as lucky as we
are,” Stoneburg said. “We’re
really blessed that she came
out healthy and strong and
fought her way out. It’s ter
rifying that so many children
are born premature, and that
so many mothers can have
these conditions and compli
cations and not understand
why.”
Jeanine Jackson, chair
of the Hall County March of
Dimes and nurse practitio
ner at Longstreet Clinic Pedi
atrics, said this year people’s
individual donations and
contributions through March
for Babies will go directly
toward helping local moth
ers and families affected by
the pandemic in addition to
supporting research, advo
cacy and programs for those
affected by preterm births.
Some of the support will
include funding research
for COVID-19 treatment
that is safe and inclusive
for pregnant and lactating
women, and offering addi
tional resources and train
ing for doctors and nurses in
the NICU and intensive care
unit.
During the pandemic,
Jackson said Hall’s March of
Dimes partners have deliv
ered care packages filled
with gift cards, hand sanitizer
and toiletry items for fami
lies with babies in the NICU.
“It’s a horribly stressful
time for families,” Jackson
said.
Each year, March of
Dimes has held nationwide
March for Babies events to
raise critical funds to support
the health of mothers and
babies. Because of the pan
demic, the event has turned
virtual and encourages
people across the country to
walk safely at home anytime
until Friday, May 15.
Hall County’s March for
Babies StepUp fundraiser
aims to reach $82,000 in
donations. As of Tuesday,
May 12, $49,397 has been
raised.
To walk, bike or run in
March of Dimes’ March for
Babies StepUp! in Hall, visit
marchforbabies.org/event/
hall and click on “JOIN
EVENT.” After registering,
download the free Charity
Miles app.
Through the app people
can request pledges from
friends and family, which
helps turn miles into money
for the campaign.
Those unable to walk, run
or bike before Friday can
still donate to the fundraiser
by visiting marchforbabies.
org. Jackson said the non
profit will continue to accept
donations throughout the
summer for the campaign.
The Hall event is pre
sented by Longstreet Clinic
with additional sponsorship
from Northeast Georgia
Medical Center.
People can view the Hall
livestream from 1:30-2 p.m.
Friday on March of Dimes
Hall County’s Facebook page.
To honor donors and
participants in March for
Babies, the national non
profit will hold a celebratory
livestream from 2-3 p.m.
Friday. People can find the
event at Facebook.com/mar-
chofdimes or Youtube.com/
marchofdimes.
Mamas delicious cornbread and memories of thriftiness
R0NDA RICH
southswomen@bellsouth.net
The other day I made corn-
bread and as I did, I spent time
with Mama. She was there by my
side as clearly as the times that,
as a child, I watched her make it.
Whenever I sew, make bis
cuits, cornbread or scrape a
bowl clean down to the last
speck, I remember Mama and
all she taught me. I was 3 when I
started climbing up on the stool
on which she sat as she sewed. I
stood behind her, my hands on
her shoulders, peeping over and
watching every stitch she made.
Now whenever I sew on a but
ton or hem a skirt, she is there
with me. Even when I thread a
needle that requires me to cut
the thread at an angle, hold it
up to a light and precariously
labor to dart it into the eye, I can
see her doing the same thing so
many times so many years ago.
My aunt was sick, so I was
making Mama’s chicken soup
and a batch of cornbread muf
fins. Aunt Kath is from the moun
tains, too, so I figured she would
appreciate the taste of the corn-
bread made Mama’s way.
This requires bacon grease.
Mama loved bacon grease. Most
of the time, her house hung
heavy with the smell and often
when Dixie Dew, my dachshund,
stayed with her, she smelled like
bacon grease when she came
home.
Mama used so much bacon
grease that she never had to
refrigerate it. She kept it in a
container on the stove. She fried
eggs in it, seasoned greens with
it and poured it into biscuits and
cornbread. She was 80 before the
abundant use of bacon grease
forced her into a stint and 85
before she had bypass surgery.
After the stint, though, she cut
back on the grease and grudg
ingly followed the doctor’s order
of vegetable or canola oil.
Sometimes she would make
a face when she ate something
where she had used oil as a sub
stitute. “This ain’t nearly as good
without bacon grease.”
“That bacon grease is what got
you into this situation in the first
place,” I’d reply.
“Hush. I don’t want to hear it,”
she’d reply with an ugly frown.
I have always used hard Crisco
in my biscuits and either butter
— a trick I learned from my
friend, Karen — or vegetable oil
in my cornbread. Since I don’t
use as much bacon grease, I
refrigerate mine, mainly used
for making wilted salad. This,
of course, I learned from Mama
and now it is a trendy favorite of
five-star restaurants.
It’s simple: tear up a soft, leafy
lettuce, cut up onion then pour
hot bacon grease over it to wilt it.
Trust me, if there was anything
to be done with bacon grease,
Mama figured it out.
While I was making corn-
bread, I remembered something
else. Mama would pour butter
milk in the cornbread or biscuit
batter then add water. I have
always made mine completely
with buttermilk and don’t dilute
it with water. Suddenly, some
thing came to me. Funny how
memory or knowledge is stirred
up by the stirring of a spoon.
It was, I realized, Mama’s
mountain thriftiness that had
led her to using half water and
half buttermilk. In times that
were hard and where one milk
cow had to quench the thirst of
10 people, they watched every
drop.
She had never stopped to
explain. Not once as she taught
me to make biscuits or corn-
bread did she say, “Now, save
your milk because water works
just as good.” Although, she did
stress the importance of getting
every speck of batter out of the
bowl because “I used to see my
friend, Margaret, waste money
by not scraping the bowl.”
I stopped for a moment and
remembered the poor people
from which I come. Then, I
took the bowl of cornbread bat
ter over to the sink and added
water.
Ronda Rich is the best-selling
author of several books, including
“Let Me Tell You Something.”
Sign up for her newsletter at
www.rondarich.com. Her column
publishes weekly.
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