WEST POINT STRIKES MARCH OF DIMES SILVER DOLLAR

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, a six-year-old boy who was born 12 weeks premature and benefited from the 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 want to help other children get well.

Peter Salk and U.S. Treasurer Rosa Rios

“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. 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.

To read the complete article, see:
March of Dimes silver dollar struck at West Point Mint (www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2015/March/11/MarchDimes_coin-11Mar15.htm)

Obverse
Designer: Paul C. Balan
Sculptor: Michael Gaudioso
Description: –Representing the past–depicts a profile view of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dr. Jonas Salk, two leaders in the fight against polio. The inscriptions are “LIBERTY,” “IN GOD WE TRUST,” and “2015.”

Reverse
Designer: Don Everhart
Sculptor: Don Everhart
Description: Depicts a baby cuddled in the hand of a parent, representing the foundation's dedication to the health of babies everywhere. The inscriptions are “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,” “E PLURIBUS UNUM,” “$1” and, “MARCH OF DIMES.”

To read the complete article, see:
http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/?action=photo#MarchOfDimes

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