Comedian Jerry Lewis has decided to also use the Labor Day weekend telethon he has held for so many years for “his kids” with muscular dystrophy into a fundraiser this year for Hurricane Katrina’s victims.
TV news report on lost youngsters in New Orleans, followed by footage of an elderly woman being pushed through flooded streets on a mattress, moved him to act.
“I had a box of Kleenex and I’m bawling like a child and I’m not believing it,” Lewis told The Associated Press. “If I had the slightest chance of helping them a little, how do you not? … These people are in trouble now.”
Knowing the remarkable compassion of children with muscular dystrophy, Lewis said he’s confident “his kids” agree with his decision.
The actor-comedian announced this week that he’s splitting the telethon’s attention between the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s needs and those of victims of hurricane Katrina and is asking donors to divide their compassion.
“If you want to send me 20 bucks for my kids, send 10. Send the other 10 to these people in this trouble. The disaster is literally that and it has to be addressed,” the actor-comedian told a news conference.
Celebrities will appeal for hurricane help during the first four hours of the telethon and its concluding four hours. The broadcast begins at 9 p.m. EDT Sunday and ends at 5:30 p.m. EDT Monday (check local listings for station).
A special 800 phone number will be used for the Katrina donations, with proceeds going to the Salvation Army in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama……
Lewis, 79, will address viewers in taped remarks scheduled to open his telethon at the Beverly Hilton hotel.
“I know my kids will understand if I hold up the beginning of their show because there are hundreds of thousands of people who know now what suffering is. … They are running out of time. And we, as generous and loving Americans, must help them.”
Lewis should be commended since it’s highly unusual for a person or organization raising money for one cause to in effect siphon it off for another. Lewis has gone through various stages in his life and even taken a lot of criticism for various aspects of this telethon. But his action is not only laudable for the decision and the money it’ll raise, but for the example it sets.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.