Central Los Angeles : San Fernando Valley : The March of Dimes’ Petite Ambassador

Scrambling around her parents’ Woodland Hills living room, 5-year-old Marissa Shaevel proudly displays her mini-CD player, baby doll and the balloons she took home from the Rose Parade.

With a little urging, Marissa explains her mission as the 1996 national ambassador for the March of Dimes: “I make friends and I help children.”

She serves as the March of Dimes’ living testament to the value of infant care. Born two months premature and weighing two pounds, five ounces, Marissa’s lungs were underdeveloped and her ureter, the tube connecting the kidney to the bladder, was blocked. But after six operations, she is fully recovered and enrolled in kindergarten.

“She’s always talking,” said her father, Steven Shaevel. Marissa, who turns 6 Friday, says she looks forward to traveling and meeting people.