March-ing Orders
“It just seemed like a no-brainer to me since I have two beautiful, healthy children,” shares Hensley, who is mom to Sophie May, 5, and Spencer, 2. “They were not born premature, but one out of eight kids is born premature and there are a million reasons why. March of Dimes uses their money to prevent the prematurity and if they are born premature, they use that money to facilitate their recovery and get them home.”Hensley got involved with MOD when she was pregnant with Spencer. “I was invited to a little party given by Pea in the Pod,” she recalls. “I got there and somebody from the staff asked if I would speak on behalf of the March of Dimes. They handed me this little synopsis of what I was supposed to talk about — how important it is to have a healthy pregnancy to have healthy children. The timing was right and there was a reason behind it. I have done PSAs for them, which has been great. I do whatever they tell me to do (laughs).”In March, Hensley participated in MOD’s big fund-raiser, WalkAmerica, in New York with many of her ATWT castmates including husband Jon Hensley (Holden), Terri Colombino (Katie), Bailey Chase (Chris) and Jennifer Ferrin (Jennifer). “Joe Namath leads the walk, which is great,” she relates. “He has been doing it for years. The people that turn out, it is just amazing. You have thousands and thousands of people with all of this good energy. I swear, you can feel the energy in the air. I said to my friend, ‘If you could bottle this, the world would be at peace.'”Hensley found a way to get ATWT fans involved. “At our fan club luncheon [in March], I had little cards [about MOD] so when people asked for an autograph, I said, ‘You can have an autograph, but you have to send something. I don’t care if it is $5. Go on the Web site and contribute,'” she explains. “People were just handing me money. People are very giving when it comes to things like that. Last year at the fan club luncheon, a lady told me that she had twins that were both premature, and how the March of Dimes helped her because she couldn’t pay for it. You hear stories like that all of the time.”
Conversation
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