FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 28, 2002 — MDA

Jerry Lewis to host 37th MDA Telethon

DETROIT, MI. — MDA National Chairman Jerry Lewis will host one of America’s best-known Labor Day traditions: the 37th Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, which is scheduled to air this weekend, Sept. 1-2, on 200 television stations nationwide.

Nearly a million volunteers will participate around the country during the Labor Day telethon in the hopes of exceeding last year’s fund-raising record of just under $57 million. Metro Detroiters gave over $1.5 million in 2001 to help fund local research and provide a variety of services to the thousands of people affected by neuromuscular disease.

“The extraordinary compassion of the great American public never ceases to amaze me, even after all these years,” Lewis said in a release after last year’s telethon. “Their message is unmistakable: They’re telling us to keep the research going at full speed and beat these devastating diseases.”

Lewis hosted his first MDA telethon in March 1952 in New York City with entertainment partner Dean Martin, which raised $70,000. The first annual broadcast on Labor Day weekend took place in 1966, and has since moved location from Las Vegas to its current broadcast in Los Angeles. This year, Lewis will be joined by his co-anchor of 35 years, Ed McMahon, and co-hosts Jann Carl, Norm Crosby, Cynthia Garrett, Wayne Brady and Bob Zany.

Some of the celebrities to grace the national stage will include Carrot Top, Charo, Chicago, Billy Crystal, Phyllis Diller, Larry king, Patti LaBelle, Penn & Teller, Esteban, Tim Conway & Harvey Korman, Steve Lawrence, Maureen McGovern, the Oak Ridge Boys, Nancy Sinatra, Yakov Smirnoff, Take Six and Andy Williams. Just a few of the local celebrities expected to reappear on the Detroit broadcast on Telethon “Love Network” station, WDWB, WB20, will include television and radio personalities, Greg Russell, Mark Wilson, Frankie Darcell, Dick Purtan and daughter Joanne Purtan, Chuck Gadika, Rachel Hunter, Jay Towers, and Hugh Holesome.

The MDA National Goodwill Ambassador, Mattie Stepanek, 11, of Upper Marlboro, Md., will also make a special appearance on the Telethon. Stepanek, who has mitochondrial myopathy — a rare neuromuscular disease that causes generalized muscle weakness and breathing and heart problems — has gained national attention and praise by the Oprah Winfrey show and various news programs for his two books of poetry, Heartsongs and Journey Through Heartsongs.

Founded in 1950, the Muscular Dystrophy Association is a voluntary health organization dedicated to finding a cure for more than 40 neuromuscular diseases. MDA funds research worldwide and currently funds projects at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University. MDA operates 230 hospital-affiliated clinics across the country. Local clinics are located at Children’s Hospital in Detroit and the Michigan Institute of Neuromuscular Disorders in Farmington Hills. Services include physical, occupational and respiratory therapy, genetic counseling and testing, social services, consultations and year-round patient care. The remarkable individuals that help the MDA provide these services to the community will be recognized on the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon.

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