Zest, enthusiasm, competence—these

Zest, enthusiasm, competence—these are the words that best describe the young members of the March of Dimes Teen Action Program.

Led by Kathy Carver, who stars in "Family Affair" on CBS television, the TAPs are junior volunteers. They were organized in 1954, and today they are an integral part of The National FoundationMarch of Dimes’ task: The fight to prevent birth defects.

Who are these teen-agers? And what, exactly, are they doing? Let’s take Alan Rosenthal of Miami, Fla., as’an example.

Alan, 17, first became involved in the TAP program when he was a high school junior.

Here’s how it happened, according to Alan: “Maria Landry, the Dade County TAP Chairman, approached me at school one day and said, ‘Alan, I’ve got a job for you.’ The next thing I knew, I was on a plane headed for Salt Lake City and a National Youth Conference on Birth Defects.”.

That’s where it all began for Alan. Inspired by the conference, he returned to Miami determined to do something about the great destroyer which attacks some 250,000 American babies every year. He became chairman of Project Concern Youth Council, a._ group of teen-age representatives from each of Dade County’s high schools, who serve as liaison between the Dade County March of Dimes Chapter and their various student bodies.

A Nationwide Movement

Under Alan's leadership, Project Concern organized the teen-agers of Dade County in fund raising and community service projects for the March of Dimes. They raised money for the Birth Defects Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital through a bread sale and a fashion show. They helped feed the children at the Birth Defects Center. They painted a Birth Defects Center cottage at the hospital and the entire March of Dimes Headquarters. And most important, these teenagers continually inform each other and involve more