Tuesday, September 2

Jerry Lewis telethon tops $65 million for MDA

You gotta hand it to Jerry Lewis.

The "freewheeling 82-year-old showman" co-hosted the 22-hour telethon yesterday that raised a record $65 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Association's annual Labor Day event.

Despite the sluggish economy, the 43rd annual fundraising blitz was $1.2 million more than last year's total. Even more impressive... the host also urged viewers to contribute to the Salvation Army's emergency disaster services because of the threats from Hurricane Gustav.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Does anyone have any idea what the pledge loss is on the MDA campaign? It's one thing to say you raised $65 million, but what do they actually collect? And has that changed much over the years by using credit cards or other payment methods?