We Did It Again!

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As with any other city, my hometown of Louisville has flaws. Lots of them. But we definitely have our positives as well. One of those positives is a local telethon that happens the first weekend in June every year. It's called the "WHAS Crusade for Children." Started 65 years ago by the Bingham family (who owned WHAS radio and TV at the time), it's the most successful local telethon in US history. The 2018 Crusade for Children ended earlier this evening, and we, as a city, did it again. The total raised was over $5.6 million. That doesn't sound like a lot, but let me explain a few things about this telethon: 1. Everything is spent on kids. There's no overhead/administration fees or whatever a lot of charities use as an excuse to skim from the donations. 2. We're talking about one city here (technically, Louisville and the immediate surrounding counties in Kentucky and southern Indiana). 3. It has one specific purpose: helping special needs children (birth-18 years) in the area. 4. The money stays in the neighborhood it was collected from. The southern Indiana donations help children in southern Indiana, while money from Shelbyville, KY helps kids in Shelbyville. 5. That's a lot of pennies! A considerable amount of the money raised is collected by firefighters who stand at busy intersections in the sweltering heat or the pouring rain, collecting change from cars at stop lights. It adds up: the #1 fire department in terms of collections turned in over $193,000!!! It's a real blessing to see a community band together to raise money for one specific cause once a year. And every year, the final tally on the tote board shows that Louisville takes this cause to heart, year after year after year. Way to go, Louisville! One of the things the Crusade for Children was able to do for decades was bring in top-notch entertainment for a fundraising concert the first evening of the telethon. Here's a clip of one such superstar who contributed: