Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon

The first Telethon was held in 1955 at Carnegie Hall in New York. The 16½-hour show raised $600,000 for MDA.

The first MDA Telethon was broadcast in 1966 by one New York City station. It was the first televised fundraising event of its kind to raise more than $1 million.

On Labor Day weekend 2010, approximately 250,000 volunteers across the country will be involved in the Telethon.

The 2010 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon is the 45th annual Labor Day show. It will be broadcast from the South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa in Las Vegas beginning at 9 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 5, and ending 21½ hours later.

The show will reach nearly 40 million viewers in the United States and Canada via more than 170 television stations comprising MDA’s “Love Network.” Thanks to RealNetworks; it also can be seen at mda.org.

In 2009, pledges and donations to the MDA Telethon brought in $60.5 million.

No tickets are available to see the national Telethon live. The best seat in the house often is right in front of your television screen.

Basic Information About MDA

MDA is the nonprofit health agency dedicated to curing muscular dystrophy, ALS and related diseases by funding worldwide research. The Association also provides comprehensive health care and support services, advocacy and education.

Financial

MDA is funded almost entirely by individual private contributions and cooperating organizations.

MDA dedicates 76 cents of every dollar it spends directly to research, services and education.

View the MDA Annual Report online for more information.

Services

MDA sends more than 4,000 youngsters with muscular dystrophy to accessible MDA summer camps each year, at a cost to MDA of $800 per camper. There's no charge to families.

Tens of thousands of people visit MDA's nationwide network of approximately 200 clinics and 37 MDA/ALS centers every year.

MDA awards research grants to more than 330 teams of scientists and physicians worldwide.

The Association also:

  • assists with the cost of repairs to all types of durable medical equipment for those it serves;
  • facilitates meetings of more than 240 support groups around the nation;
  • provides thousands of free flu vaccines;
  • provides annual occupational, physical, respiratory or speech therapy consultations
  • offers advocacy and community outreach;
  • provides online support services through the e-community myMDA and myMuscleTeam, a program that helps recruit and coordinate in-home help;
  • conducts extensive public education programs; and
  • publishes current, accurate and easy-to-understand information about research, health care and daily living with neuromuscular disease via two national magazines, numerous booklets and guides, and online at mda.org.

Community Programs

MDA’s 150 local offices across the country provide valuable practical information and essential services.

MDA’s National Task Force on Public Awareness advises the Association about issues of interest and importance to people with disabilities. The group consists of adults who are leaders in their communities and are affected by diseases in MDA's program.

Abbey Umali, 11, of Redlands, Calif., is MDA’s National Goodwill Ambassador. She has a form of Charcot-Marie Tooth disease.

MDA’s National Youth Chairman is Luke Christie, 17, of Due West, S.C., who has spinal muscular atrophy. Luke encourages teens and young adults to support MDA.

Augie and Lynne Nieto of Corona del Mar, Calif., are co-chairs of MDA’s ALS Division. Augie, 52, has ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease). An exercise equipment pioneer, Augie co-founded Life Fitness and is now chairman of Octane Fitness.