We may not have scored ourselves a space shuttle. Nor did we make the (arbitrary) urban cut for caring about the environment. But when our town raised more than three million to help babies born sick or too soon in one event — which ranks it No. 1 in the nation — ahem, it puts it all in perspective.

On Sunday, the March of Dimes will host the annual March for Babies fundraising event for the 40th time in Houston. This five-mile walk will start and end at the University of Houston's Robertson Stadium, and is expected to draw more than 30,000 marchers. Last year's event earned the distinction as the No. 1 March of Dimes event in the nation in terms of participants and money raised — and organizers expect to raise another record $3.2 million this year.

That would push H-Town's March of Babes contribution to more than two billion in the 40 years of the event.

Baby, Houston's come a long way.

March for Babies volunteer logistics coordinator Bobby Holloway, a member of the Centerpoint Energy team, has been a volunteer for the Houston event for the last 25 years. "I remember when we collected dimes and put them in the slots in cardboard boxes," he says.

"The event and number of teams has expanded significantly since I began volunteering," Holloway continues. "Twenty five years ago, there were about 15,000 walkers and it was held at Rice. But we outgrew Rice, and now we're at UH."

This year, the fundraising walk is only the beginning of the party. Other festivities include a rock wall, an inflatable bounce house, and arts, crafts, and refreshments galore.

Maybe we'll never win in an irritability contest. Maybe we're the perpetual runner up to Chicago in areas like corporate expansion.

But where it counts, our city knows how to pack a powerful, life-saving punch.