Hundreds of families and local business leaders will join together on Saturday, April 8 at The Park at River Walk for the 2017 March for Babies.

The event is presented by Dignity Health Mercy and Memorial Hospitals.

March for Babies is the nation's oldest fundraising walk and supports the March of Dimes.

Funds raised through March for Babies help in the fight against premature birth, now the leading global cause of death for children under five years old.

In the United States, one in ten babies is born preterm ranking among the worst in high-resource countries.