Oh Happy Day #31!

8/31 - Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon!!!!!!

I've been waiting all month to get to this post and it's finally here!!

I know what you're saying. "Labor Day is tomorrow and you're a day early." And I'm sure some of you are adding, "And you're only excited because you work for MDA." Neither statement is completely true.

Labor Day IS tomorrow, but in most cities the 21 & half hour Telethon starts tonight. Don't know your local Love Network station? Just check out this list - http://www.mda.org/telethon/findyourstation.html. This list provides start times, times zones, station names, network affiliations, station websites, and even the number of years each station has carried the Telethon.

This is the 43rd Annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. First broadcast over Labor Day weekend in 1966 by just one TV station in New York City, this unique event starring popular comedian Jerry Lewis quickly caught the public's attention - and raised more than $1 million. Now the show is broadcast on 180 MDA "Love Network" stations across the country and raised a record breaking $63.8 million dollars in 2007.

In 1998, the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon made history as the first telethon seen around the world via Internet simulcast, hosted by RealNetworks on MDA's Web site. But the MDA Telethon was an "interactive" show long before the computer age popularized the term, the Telethon's drama comes from the ever-increasing fundraising total posted on the tote board - by hand in 1966, now electronically. Jerry's goal of raising "one dollar more" than the previous year's amount has been more than met almost every year, thanks to the generosity and compassion of the American public.

Personally, I have many fond memories of watching the Telethon with my Grammy and other family members for my entire life. At quite a young age, I would take an empty coffee can and hit up everyone I knew for whatever they could give. My Grammy would then take me down to our local pledge center to turn in what I'd collected. As I got older, I would start several weeks before the Telethon so that I could collect even more money.

Five years ago when I began to work for MDA, it was literally a dream come true. This has been the most rewarding and fulfilling job I have ever had. The only thing that could make it better would be if my Grammy had lived long enough to see it.

If watching and participating in the Telethon isn't a tradition in your family then I strongly urge you to make it one. Children learn by example. Show them how to be a better person in a fun way. I think two very wise men said it better than I ever could...

"The measure of life is not its duration, but its donation." - Peter Marshall

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." - Winston Churchill


In 2006, the Houston Gulf Coast office (where I was first hired) of MDA started the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon Online Auction. In 2007, other offices picked up the idea and ran with it. This year there is even a National auction.

As of March, I now work for the Dallas office of MDA. Our auction is full of hundreds of great items. So if you'd like to shop for charity then please to give it a look. If you are in the Dallas - Ft. Worth area, many of our online auction items will be featured on our local Telethon. Please tune in and click the link. :)


Together, we truly can make a difference. Each of us makes a small ripple in the pond, but small ripples can become large waves of change when combined with other small ripples. The possibilities are limitless if we all come together for the greater good!



The Happiness Challenge has be a lot of fun for me. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Those of you that know me personally, know that this month long challenge was not really out of character for me. I play the Glad Game daily with or without the challenge. So what was the purpose of this challenge for me? Hopefully, I've managed to pass a little bit of happiness and joy on to someone reading this obscure blog. If I made even one person smile, then it was worth it.

So, did something make you smile today? If so, blog about it. Talk about it. Tell someone about it. A smile's true worth is measured by how many people you share it with. So go forth and share. And if you didn't smile today, let me know and I'll be more than happy to share one of my smiles with you. I've got plenty to spare. :)