Members of the Estevan Kinsmen and Kinettes Clubs played a big role in the success of Telemiracle 40 in Regina during the weekend.
About 18 members of the local Kin clubs travelled to Regina for the 21-hour broadcast, which started at 8 p.m. on Saturday evening and continued until 5 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. They were joined by hundreds of Kin club volunteers from across the province.
The fundraiser fetched $5,200,071 for the medical needs of people in Saskatchewan.
The local members largely served as messengers – delivering people, cash and more to the necessary locations.
Others answered phones, either in front of the cameras or in the phone room behind the scenes.
“We had some of the girls in charge of the tote board – the kids that put the numbers up when they have a new total,” Estevan Kinettes Club member Susan Colbow told the Mercury.
A couple of local Kin club members chaired Telemiracle committees. Colbow was in charge of manpower, so she assigned jobs to more than 500 volunteers. Troy Ruzicka ran security, so he made sure nobody entered the building if they weren’t supposed to be there.
Both had only a few hours to rest during the show.
Colbow was thrilled with the money that was raised. There wasn’t a big push at the end to eclipse the $5 million mark, but they were excited when they did with a few minutes remaining. Online donations continued to come in after the broadcast.
“They were really surprised that we did get five million, just with the way the economy is,” said Colbow. “Hats off to the people of Saskatchewan, that in this time of need for everybody, we could still raise five million dollars.”
The Telemiracle Foundations has already received more than 800 applications for the 2015-16 year, and they still have their June allocation meeting, which is typically their biggest.
“The need is greater because the economy is down,” said Colbow.
This year marked the 40th edition of Telemiracle, and so there were some nods to the event’s history throughout the broadcast. An extra hour was added to the show because of the anniversary.
And it was billed as having the most Saskatchewan talent ever, with perennial Telemiracle favourite Beverly Mahood being the only non-Saskatchewan performer on the national cast.
Colbow was impressed with the talent that was on stage throughout the event.
“Usually they only have around 50 Saskatchewan performers, but because of the great talent that we actually had this year … I think we had 61 performers,” said Colbow.
They also needed a few more Saskatchewan entertainers to fill out the extra hour.
Telemiracle had other local content. Estevan’s Chris Henderson and Midale’s Brad Johner were part of the national cast. And Estevan area youths Rachel, Rebecca and William Duncan travelled to Regina to perform Don’t Laugh at Me by Mark Willis on Sunday morning. Their mother, Margaret, accompanied them on piano.
It was Rebecca’s third time on stage at Telemiracle, and the second appearance for Rachel and William.
The Duncans presented a cheque for $1,122.45 to Telemiracle on Sunday morning; the money was raised through support from St. Giles Anglican Church, Pleasantdale School, and the Duncans’ family and friends. The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan donated $2 for every dollar raised by the Saskatchewan talent, so the value of the Duncans’ contribution tripled to $3,367.35.
