The Children’s Miracle Network will once again hold local telethon activities the weekend of June 5-6 at DelGrosso’s Amusement Park in Tipton.
This year’s event will feature additions to traditional telethon events according to a news release from Geisinger Health System.
“We are really looking forward to it this year,” said Jennifer Young, public relations coordinator with Geisinger. “We’ve got a wide variety of events and some new events which will be added at the park.”
The regular annual events, including the Reliance 5K Run/ Two-mile Walk for Miracles, Saturday and Sunday chicken barbecues and a celebrity auction will be held once again this year.
New events and activities include a brand-new Miracle Ice Cream Motorcycle Run and a new game at the Kids’ Games and Activities area. The Lollipop Run and a cookie-decorating activity will return for a second year.
WTAJ-TV will broadcast live from the telethon on both days according to Young.
“It (the event) is pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday at the park,” Young told The Daily Herald. “The live broadcast begins at 9 p.m. on Saturday, June 5. It goes until 6 p.m., Sunday.”
The telethon will also feature national segments with celebrities Marie Osmond, John Schneider, LeAnn Rimes and others.
On a regional level, contributors have raised more than $26 million dollars during the last two decades through the Children’s Miracle Network. The funding then goes to support pediatric services at the Janet Weis Children’s Hospital at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre and more than 50 medical groups throughout a 31-county area including outreach clinics located in Altoona and Dubois.
More information about the telethon events and activities can be obtained by calling the Altoona CMN office at 943-8887 or toll-free at 1-800-451-5437. A complete list of telethon weekend activities is available on the internet at www.geisinger.org/about/telethon/weekend.shtml. Volunteers are also needed.
The Children\’s Miracle Network is a non-profit organization which is an alliance of approximately 170 children’s hospitals. It is dedicated to helping children by raising funds for those hospitals.
According to its web site, the Utah-based organization coordinates and promotes thousands of special events and fundraisers year-round through a coalition of children\’s hospitals, media partners and corporate volunteers. In addition to the \”Children\’s Miracle Network Celebration,\” an annual televised fund raiser, corporate sponsors sell paper miracle balloons, radio stations broadcast radiothons, and college students hold dance marathons.
Since 1983, the Network has raised more than $2.2 billion. The organization’s hospitals help about 17 million children each year throughout North America.
