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Telethon 2009, across the weekend of October 3 & 4, saw the people of Western Australia donate a total of $6,374,775. This brings the total since 1968 to over $94 million.
It all started at 6.30pm on Saturday October 3 with a $1.5 million donation from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on behalf of the Australian Federal Government. On the same night at Perth Convention Exhibition Centre The Lexus Ball raised a record $251,000.
The Telethon/Mirvac Home by In-Vogue sold at auction on Sunday morning for an impressive $862,000 while the Telethon Regional Home went for $600,000.
To cap off another successful Telethon weekend, Mr Kerry Stokes generously contributed $1,000,000 on behalf of Australian Capital Equity.
But every single cent counted. For example Beth Scott, has walked from Fremantle to Perth for Telethon who for the past five years – this year raising $3,390 (Beth has raised in excess of $75,000 for Telethon over the years).
Other significant donations included:
Our 2009 Little Telethon Stars were 11 year old Wade Clare representing the metropolitan kids and 6 year old Trent Wailu representing the kids from regional W.A. The boys gave us countless magic moments with their smiling faces and adorable personalities, not only on stage but also behind the scenes as they won the hearts of all those who met them.
A huge line-up of Seven Network talent flew in from around Australia including;
As well as a very special appearance from Twilight ‘New Moon’ star Chaske Spencer.
They were joined by our very own Seven Perth stars – Jeff Newman, Rick Ardon, Susannah Carr, Basil Zempilas, Natalia Cooper, Emmy Kubainski, Sally Bowrey, Adrian Barich, Tina Altieri and Today Tonight’s Monika Kos, Mark Gibson and Graeme Butler. Plus many of Perth’s radio personalities from Mix 94.5, 92.9, Nova 937, 6PR, ABC720, 96fm and 6iX.
The crowd was entertained by an incredible array of talented performers including Jimmy Barnes, Jessica Mauboy, Ian Moss, Guy Sebastian, The Ten Tenors, Vanessa Amorosi, Damien Leith, Soul Mystique, Carl Riseley, and were revved up by the one and only John Deeks and our immensely talented home grown performers.
Telethon General Manager, Steve Mummery was thrilled with the outcome of the weekend. “Many people are required to make something as special as this happen, and when you see the faces of the beautiful children such as Wade and Trent, it simply reaffirms the reason why the WA community gets behind this incredible institute with so much generosity. Telethon is the number one charity in WA because of this generosity and child health and research is the winner!”
On behalf of the entire team at Channel Seven and Telethon, Seven’s General Manager and Telethon Trustee, Ray Wardrop, offered a special thanks to all those who contributed over the weekend – the stars who gave their time, the many volunteers and particularly, all those who pledged donations.