Crowd gathers for March for Babies event in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- An effort kicked off Wednesday to help give a fighting chance to every baby.

ABC7 News Anchor Natasha Zouves emceed this years March for Babies kick-off for the March of Dimes.

This event in San Francisco is the first step in organizing teams for the annual walk.

Premature birth is the number one cause of death for babies. "What we're trying to achieve is really ambitious. We're trying to drive down prematurity rates, we're trying to find the causes of birth defects and infant mortality as well as support all the families, the moms, the dads, the grandparents, the brothers and sisters who are going through this," Zouves said.

ABC7 News is getting involved and will be at the walks held in April and May in San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Rosa, Fairfield and Pleasanton.