One of the organizers for this year's march of Dimes event, Shena Antle said approximately 60 to 70 people came out for last Saturday's event.

Antle said they raised over $11,000.

"We were really proud that we did that well," Antle said. "We were afraid that what we'd be able to raise would be low this year because of the economy."

She said the event was held in memory of Jennifer Coffey a driving force in the previous year's event who passed away about two weeks after the walk last year.

She said the early accounting shows the Bank of Jamestown, First National Bank, and the Baby Emma Team from Russell Springs Elementary were the big fund raisers.

"We had a lot of donations, the community really came together," Antle said.

She said the national organization had said they would not support a Russell County event and had encouraged them to participate in the Somerset event, and so they did not provide funding for the local event.

She said local companies and individuals stepped up to take up the slack.

"Giovanis and Little Caesar's donated pizza; Kay's donated drinks; Branscum Market provided us fresh fruit; McDonalds gave us the ice; Harris Grocery donated water, Curtis Hill provided us a porta-poty, Kem Bell at WJRS helped us promote the event, Russell Springs Elementary was kind enough to let us use their track, and the Lake Cumberland ADD office let us use office space for planning the event," Antle said.

She singled out Emma Bryant, Melissa McFarland, Tiffany Morgan, Julie Gosser, and Donna Little as special people responsible for making this year's event a success.