ONEONTA _ About 60 volunteers have agreed to help with the local MDA Telethon, but about 15 more helpers are needed, organizers said.
The local telethon, in its 33rd year, will be broadcast from the Elks Club in Oneonta from 8 to 11 p.m. Sunday and from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday, said Carla Balnis, spokeswoman for the Oneonta-based effort. However, the national broadcast will scroll the local number throughout the event, and local telephones will be answered overnight Sunday, she said.
Locally, television viewers may watch the telethon on public access channel 23 and WISF Cable channel 27, Balnis said.
About 15 volunteers are needed to answer telephones, and they will be instructed on recording gifts on pledge sheets. Last year, the local telethon raised $77,357, Balnis said, and this year's goal is to raise that amount plus one dollar.
The national 43rd annual Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon will feature video profiles and live interviews with adults and children with muscular dystrophy and related diseases, medical and scientific research updates, and entertainment.
Lewis, comedian and national MDA chairman, and anchor Ed McMahon will be on the show broadcast from the South Pint Hotel, Casino and Spa in Las Vegas. On-air talent will include Celine Dion, 3 Doors Down, Kid Rock, Sugarland, Ludacris, Reba McEntire, Will Downing and Billy Bob Thornton.
The network show airs from 9 p.m. Sunday to 6:30 p.m. Monday. Some live segments will be broadcast from New York and Chicago. The telethon reaches 40 million viewers in the United States and Canada.
In 2007, pledges and donations to the national MDA Telethon raised a record $63.8 million, according to the national MDA website; 78.4 percent of each dollar MDA spends goes to research, services and education, and the rest goes to fundraising and administration.
MDA maintains 225 hospital-affiliated clinics. Services at MDA clinics may include occupational therapy, selected diagnostic tests, genetic counseling, respiratory therapy and more.
In Oneonta, Mayor John Nader will be involved in the start of the local broadcast. At 8 p.m. Sunday, he will present a proclamation declaring Labor Day Weekend 2008 as the 33rd anniversary of the local telethon and urging residents to ``give full support as they have done so generously in the past to the programs of the Muscular Dystrophy Association and to the untiring efforts of its national Chairman Jerry Lewis.''
The event at the Elks Club on Chestnut Street includes room for an audience, Balnis said, and the show is a good opportunity to see a television show produced.
JoanMarie Pondolfino and Mark Jeffers will be hosts for the local show, Balnis said. They will interview merchants and representatives from businesses and organizations that have raised money throughout the year in sales of paper shamrocks and hop-a-thon events, she said.
To volunteer or for more information, call Balnis at 432-5450.
