The Labor Day weekend will never be the same. The Muscular Dystrophy Association has announced it will no longer hold a telethon to raise funds, a tradition that goes back to 1956. Over the years, the MDA telethon raised more than $2.4 billion.
At one time, the telethon, hosted for decades by comedian Jerry Lewis ran for nearly a whole day, starting on Sunday night and ending when Lewis sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" sometime late Monday. He was so identified with the fundraiser that it was sometimes referred to as the Jerry Lewis Telethon.
Instead of a telethon, MDA plans to invest in digital and mobile channels to get the word out about muscular dystrophy and similar diseases, and to raise funds. The organization noted the success of last summer's Ice Bucket Challenge to raise money and awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), one of the diseases under the MDA umbrella. The Ice Bucket Challenge was a viral sensation in social media, with people challenging each other to either donate money or make a video of them dumping a bucket of ice over their heads. It raised $100 million in a month.
It seemed everyone watched the telethon for at least a while every Labor Day. The reason was that Lewis could pull in top-of-the-line stars to appear. Frank Sinatra performed many times, as did Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., John Lennon and Michael Jackson, and in more recent years, Jennifer Lopez, Pitbull, and will.i.am. As the hours passed, a giant tote board would tally the amount of money pledged.
Lewis was national chairman of MDA for 55 years. The last telethon he hosted was in 2010, the last year that it ran for 21.5 hours. For the last 2 years, the telethon was called the MDA Show of Strength and ran for only two hours. It raised almost $57 million last Labor Day.
MDA raises money for muscular dystrophy, which is a muscle-wasting disease, and many other diseases of the nervous and muscular system, including ALS. It funds research and provides services to people with these diseases and raises awareness.
