CBS 3/CW Philly's 7th Annual Phone Bank for Ronald McDonald House Charities® Raises $1,132,731
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- CBS 3 and The CW Philly's seventh annual Ronald McDonald House Charities Phone Bank, a 14-hour on-air fundraiser aired on both stations today. The event raised more than $1,000,000 today. The phone bank brought in exactly $1,132,731. Today's total upped the overall total raised since the first fundraiser in 2010 to over $6.2 million.
Fundraising segments aired throughout the broadcast day. All funds raised through the phone bank will directly benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Philadelphia Region, a non-profit organization that creates, finds and supports programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children in our community.
Cody Calafiore of the CBS hit reality series Big Brother, Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins and Swoop and the Eagles Cheerleaders were special guests as CBS 3's Jessica Dean, Kate Bilo, Don Bell, Jim Donovan, Erika von Tiehl, Nicole Brewer, Katie Fehlinger, Meisha Johnson, Stephanie Stahl, Vittoria Woodill, Natasha Brown, Rahel Solomon and Cleve Bryan hosted the event. CBS 3 Meteorologist Justin Drabick broadcasted live from Philadelphia's Dilworth Park where the charity collected donations all day.
On-air personalities from the CBS RADIO stations in Philadelphia, including Valerie Knight and Frank Lewis of 98.1 WOGL's Breakfast Club, Rich Zeoli from Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, Marc Farzetta of SportsRadio 94 WIP, 96.5 AMP Radio's Bex, Doc Medek and Andie Summers of 92.5XTU and Melony Roy of KYW Newsradio were also on site taking pledges on the phone from viewers who wanted to support the cause.
RMHC of the Philadelphia Region grants hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to support local non-profit programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children. In addition, the charity supports the Philadelphia, Southern New Jersey and Delaware Ronald McDonald Houses; 16 Ronald McDonald Family Rooms® in area hospitals such as Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Cooper University Hospital (Camden, N.J.), and Alfred I. duPont Hospital (Wilmington, DE); the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile® operated by St. Christopher's Foundation for Children and four scholarship programs for graduating seniors in the area. The charity receives its support from McDonald's Corporation, McDonald's Owner/Operators, corporate donors and McDonald's customers.
The Ronald McDonald House Charities Telethon is presented by Capital One, Shop Rite, The Tri-State Toyota Dealers Association, and Health Partners Plans.
CBS 3 (KYW-TV) and The CW Philly (WPSG-TV) are part of CBS Television Stations, a division of CBS Corporation.
