Telethon raises nearly $1.6 million for Carl Perkins Center

Rita McCaslin and Trey Cleek were two of the coordinators of this year’s Circles of Hope Telethon that happened this past Sunday, and they were pleased with the results.

The telethon, which lasted for five hours Sunday afternoon on local television station WBBJ, raised $1,579,209 on air.

That number was announced on air, but more donations always come in after the event, and the total number is announced in September.

“We’ll always take donations, so anyone can call to do that,” said McCaslin, who’s been the production director for the telethon for 19 years and was involved with the annual event for years before that.

The telethon is one of the biggest annual fundraisers for the Carl Perkins Center Exchange Club for the Prevention of Child Abuse.

They said there were more than 100 volunteers involved in putting the telethon on and a number of sponsors who helped out as well.

“There were more people back who were volunteering or just sitting in the crowd this year than last year,” Cleek said. “We had more donors show up with their check to make a presentation as part of the telethon.

“Most of them donated last year too, but we had maybe a dozen who was present for an in-person donation last year. That was closer to 40 this year.”

The telethon returned home to the Carl Perkins Civic Center last year after not being able to be held there for a couple years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It just seems like people are getting back into the flow of being a part of the event and helping out,” McCaslin said. “So we’re appreciative of everyone who was in the Civic Center helping or just a part of the atmosphere.”

Cleek also thanked those on staff at the center in all its locations throughout West Tennessee.

“There’s no way I could do the job they do every day, talking with these kids and working with them after they’ve dealt with the trauma they’ve dealt with,” Cleek said. “And our director Pam Nash and Madelyn Stadinger for the work they did in putting this together and leading the work throughout West Tennessee all year.”

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news