Jimmy Fund Telethon Huge Success

pky
In other news, the Jimmy Fund Telethon was a HUGE success. I think they raised over 2.2 million, which is outstanding because 2 mil was their goal. much gratitude to those people there who organized it and especially to those who contribute. i almost sound like i had something to do with it... =) I saw all the WEEI hosts, and they're all such dorks. dale looks funny. D&C are dorky. we all konw what holley looks like from around the horn. BIG O and Sheppard are fat. funny stuff.
Get it Here.

Jimmy Fund Radiothon a success
08/27/2005 2:35 AM ET
By Mike Petraglia / Special to MLB.com

BOSTON -- The former bowling alley underneath Fenway Park served as the headquarters Friday in the effort to strike out cancer.

The 4th annual WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radiothon to benefit the Dana Farber Cancer Institute was held at Game On! restaurant, with celebrities from the baseball world joining forces with stars from Hollywood and politics to raise money for cancer research and treatment.

"You're talking to the best in Hollywood and a lot of the best of Hollywood happens to be from Boston," WEEI program director Jason Wolfe said. "The Ben Afflecks of the world, the Seth Meyers -- there's just so many of these people that still feel such a close connection to Boston. They want to come back and help out and donate their time.

"These guys understand this city and understand why it's important to do what we're doing today and that just makes this such a great event," Wolfe added.

When the Radiothon ended, more than $2.2 million was raised.

Wolfe recalls the 2003 event as a milestone in its growth.

"We had a goal of a half-million dollars that second year and as the thing kind of blew up and we realized we were close to a million, it was the seventh or eighth inning and (Red Sox vice president of public affairs) Charles Steinberg called us and said they're donating the last $25,000. The feeling was incredible," Wolfe said.

This year, the wait to reach $1 million was much less dramatic as the tote board showed seven figures just before 4 p.m. But this year, Wolfe and WEEI officials raised the bar much higher.

"We got to $1.5 million last year and hopefully we'll have the same feeling this year when we get to two (million)," Wolfe said.

"He told us that this year the goal is two million dollars and everyone took a deep breath," added WEEI show host and Boston Bruins NESN telecaster Dale Arnold whose job it was to update the tote board on TV cut-ins on NESN.

"This is by far the most important thing we do all year and it's the most important day," Arnold added.

From the moment the Radiothon began at 6 a.m., the show was wall-to-wall with stars.

Former Sox ace Roger Clemens called during the afternoon show and offered his support while Tony Danza was looking at a photo of himself throwing a ceremonial first pitch at Fenway Park two weeks ago when he called into the mid-day show.

And for the third straight year, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner joined a list of distinguished callers, which also included U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck, who donated $50,000 during his call-in.

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.