TELETHON MAGIC MAKES $306,425,975 MILLION – see all the photos!
The people of Western Australia have proved more generous than ever, raising an extraordinary record breaking $38,000,554 for Telethon 2018
Ten year old Kaide Stratton and six year old Charlotte Meredith stole our hearts as the Little Telethon Stars. They tipped the total Telethon has raised since 1968 to over $300 million with money they collected from school.
In a highlight, Curtin University and the Telethon Kids institute announced the creation of the Kerry Stokes Chair in Child Health in recognition of Mr Stokes’s incredible contribution to the health and welfare of children in WA
Telethon 2018 kicked off Saturday night to a sold out audience at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. The marathon 26 hours of TV went live on Channel 7 Perth and across WA on GWN7 and was streamed nationally via the telethon7.com, thewest.com.au and perthnow.com.au website.
Ray Burgess, Casey Barnes was among the stars who entertained, plus Leo Sayer & Glenn Shorrock came from the Lexus Ball to give a surprise stellar performance. The Lexus Ball raised $1,700,000.
Princess Diana’s niece, Lady Kitty Spencer held a royal tea party and was a popular special guest with families and children, especially our Little Telethon Stars.
The team at Telethon and Channel 7 Perth led an army of more than 250 TV production crew, 600 entertainers and 1,000 volunteers to make this year’s Telethon weekend the most successful ever.
The Prime Minister generously handed over a massive $3.3m to the WA community – $1.3m going to the revolutionary ORIGINS project at Joondalup Health Campus. BHP Billiton once again donated an extraordinary $4m, Wesfarmers $1.5m and Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation contributed $3m to the overall tally.
Premier Mark McGowan pledged $3m from the State Government. $2m of this will go to the Telethon Perth Children’s Hospital Research Fund, matched by Telethon so that $4m can fund research into children’s diseases.
Perth businessman Tim Roberts, generously donated $1.75m and Malcolm, Tonya and Carolyn McCusker gave $1.6m from the McCusker Charitable Foundation.
For the 7th year Hawaiian Property Group held Broadfield’s Weekend in Broome for Telethon, raising $700,000.
7 Network personalities from Home & Away, All Together Now, Sunrise, The Chase Australia and The Morning Show got into the spirit of Telethon with “In It To Win It Host” Mark Gibson. They competed in some very funny and often messy live challenges to see how much money they could win, ending up in Crown Perth donating an incredible $2.5 million.
Other large donations included Telethon Community Cinemas $501 000, Perth Airport $100,000 and Bankwest $100,000. Ex-rugby player Matt Fuller, UFC champion Soa “The Hulk” and Chef Josh Catalano spent months preparing for a 24 hour fitness challenge that saw them conduct a non-stop spin class with HBF donating $50,000 and then raising a further $20,159 towards their efforts and participants raising an additional $120,000. To top it off, HBF threw in $9,841 to make the final tally a monumental $200,000!
Telethon General Manager, Marie-Anne Keeffe was ecstatic with the result-
“Once again the people of Western Australia have outdone themselves by digging deep and raising an extraordinary amount that will change the lives of children across our state and across the world. We are humbled by their love of Telethon and incredible generosity.”
A huge line-up of 7 Network personalities flew in from around Australia including David Koch, Mark Beretta from Sunrise; Lynne McGranger, James Stewart, Rohan Nichol, Patrick O’Connor, Sarah Roberts, Lukas Radovich, Sophie Dillman, Anna Cocquerel and Sam Frost from Home And Away; Wendy Moore,
Carolyn Burns-McCrave and Perth finalists Chiara and David House Rules; Issa Schultz, Matt Parkinson and Brydon Coverdale from The Chase Australia; Sam Lane, Sam McClure, Mel McLaughlin and Nathan Templeton from Seven Sport; Karen Ledbury, and Larry Emdur from The Morning Show and Tom Williams from The Daily Edition; Perth team Stella & Jazzey and Marco & Davide from MKR; Peter Ford, Seven Entertainment Reporter; Greg Gould and Silvie Paladino from All Together Now; Adam Dovile from Better Homes and Gardens; Andrew Denton from Interview; and Perth’s own Joel Creasey from Take Me Out.
They were joined by 7 Perth stars – Rick Ardon, Susannah Carr, Basil Zempilas, Sam Jolly, Matt Tinney, Ryan Daniels, Angela Tsun and Adrian Barich, plus many more from 7 News as well as Today Tonight’s Monika Kos, Mark Gibson, Graeme Butler, Mark Readings and Syan Dougherty, plus many of Perth’s radio personalities from Mix 94.5, hit 92.9, 96fm, 6PR and 6iX.
Every cent raised this weekend will be returned back to the WA community to support crucial child health research, provide much needed medical equipment, and drive social welfare programs.