Making fundraising fun is not always easy to do, especially when you’re one of the planners, but the end result is usually worth it.
Take, for example, the upcoming Riverside Brookfield Educational Foundation Telethon, which this year is on Saturday, Feb. 22 from 1 to 9 p.m. and will be broadcast live on RBTV. Proceeds from the telethon go to provide educational opportunities for students, teachers and staff at RB High School.
A lot of work goes into making the event happen. Months prior, the foundation’s trustees begin working to secure corporate sponsorship, premiums and workers. More than 100 people donate their time, many of them serving as members of the phone bank calling for pledges or receiving pledges. Those working behind the camera, many of them students or graduates, return each year to lend their support.
Then there is the entertainment. For the past few years, the foundation has been fortunate to have the expertise of Riverside resident Ellen Fong, who assembles the entertainment and directs what happens on the stage. The acts include groups both within the school and outside the school. Assisting Fong this year is Mary Stamm with the help of RBHS graduate Jacob Palka, who has been a familiar sight on the RBHS stage and in local theater productions.
The real fun of this fundraiser begins about two months later, after the stage lights have dimmed, the studio is cleared and the grant applications have been received. It is at that point the grants are disbursed to the qualified applicants.
Previous recipients have been able to attend workshops and educational camps that fulfill their desire for learning.
The telethon will air live locally on RBTV Comcast channel 16 (in Brookfield channel 99), statewide AT&T and U-Verse. It also will be streaming online at www.RBTV.tv. To make a pledge call 708-442-9990.
Yours truly will be on the anchor desk from 5 to 7 p.m., so you can watch while eating dinner. If you call at that time, make a pledge and say you read about the telethon in Kosey’s Corner and I’ll give $1 for every call. I know a $1 doesn’t sound like much, but it could add up. Make sure the phone person marks it down.
More “fun” raising? The same night as the telethon, the Riverside Junior Women’s Charity will be holding its trivia night at St. Mary Parish Center.
So if you possess a wealth of useful or useless knowledge you may want to attend — after you make your pledge of course. Visit www.riversidejuniors.org for more info.
