29th annual Easter Seals Telethon celebrates 90 years of helping kids with physical disabilities succeed

TORONTO, March 19, 2012 /CNW/ - On Sunday, April 1, 2012, from 12:00 noon until 6:00 p.m., the 29^th Annual Easter Seals Telethon will appeal for public support to help kids with physical disabilities and their families on CBC and affiliate cable channels. This year's Easter Seals Telethon is particularly significant as 2012 marks the 90^th anniversary of Easter Seals Ontario, the 75^th anniversary of Easter Seals fully accessible summer camps and the 65^th anniversary of the annual Easter 'seals' direct mail campaign, which continues to be one of the organization's most successful campaigns.

The Easter Seals Telethon celebrates the year's fundraising successes, recognizing generous supporters, and raising essential funds for kids with physical disabilities. The Telethon entertains and informs viewers with celebrity hosts, live entertainment and video stories featuring Easter Seals families and stories from camp, with the final regional tote announced seconds before 6:00 p.m. Regions throughout Ontario hosting Telethons this year include Toronto, South Eastern Ontario out of Kingston, Central out of Peterborough, Northern out of Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie, and South Western out of Windsor, with some regions extending broadcasts until 8:00 p.m. In addition to the live on-air Telethon, the Easter Seals Webathon will air live from 12:00 noon - 6:00 p.m. on www.cbc.ca as well as easterseals.org.

"The annual Easter Seals Telethon allows us to celebrate our successes throughout the year, showcase inspiring young people, thank our supporters and share with the public the importance of their donations in helping children and youth with physical disabilities," said Carol Lloyd, President & CEO, Easter Seals Ontario. "As we celebrate our 90^th year as an organization, we remain committed to our initial priorities of mobility equipment, fully accessible recreation and public awareness of disability issues."

This year's Easter Seals Telethon will also celebrate Kids Who Can presented by Canon: A special project by PhotoSensitive and Easter Seals. This past summer, 24 photographers and videographers visited 12 Easter Seals camps across Canada, with photos and video footage becoming part of a multimedia exhibition available on-line at www.eastersealskids.com.

"Canon Canada is thrilled to support Easter Seals kids through the Kids Who Can project by PhotoSensitive. We have been supporting the Easter Seals Telethon for 25 years and are proud to give back to our community, while raising much needed funds for children with physical disabilities and their families," said Colleen Ryan, Senior Director of Corporate Communications and General and Environmental Affairs at Canon Canada.

The show will also feature the second annual Action! Easter Seals Video Contest! The contest, launched in December, challenges participants to create a 90-second video showing and telling what Easter Seals means to them. The top winners from the contest will air during the Easter Seals Telethon and Webathon, and the top three videos will be announced during the final hour.  Viewers will also have the opportunity to meet the new 2012 Easter Seals Ambassadors, as well as other inspiring Easter Seals kids and their families.

Donations can be called into the show live throughout the broadcast or can be made on-line at www.easterseals.org.  This year's Easter Seals Telethon will have new donation capabilities by way of Facebook and Twitter as well as a new on-line fundraising tool that creates individual fundraising pages which can be forwarded to friends, family and co-workers. For more information, visit www.easterseals.org.

Contact:
Orsolya Soos
Communications, Easter Seals Ontario
[email protected]
416-421-8377 ext. 326