Presenting the 2012 Telethon Beneficiaries!!

When i first started at Telethon one of my first jobs was to help with the 2012 Beneficiaries function, regarded as the 'heart end' of telethon by Mr Kerry Stokes himself, this function saw Telethon distributed the $16million raised last year to a variety of beneficiaries who would all put it towards research and aid for the sick children and families of Western Australia. Being named a beneficiary is no easy thing, each charity must put forward a business case outlining what every single cent of their grant would go towards and inturn how that would help the children of Western Australia, the Telethon Board of Trustee's then take each application into careful consideration before determining a final number of recipients. This year it was 45 Western Australian charities and research organisations who Telethon felt could best utilise the funds. The function also acknowledges its million dollar partners who donate in excess of a million dollars each year to aid in the cause.  

The beneficiaires function was to be held on the 29th of May at the Perth convention and exhibition centre and my first task was ot monitor the 500+ guest list. Telethon invites all its major stakeholders your share a vested interest in the organisation as well as those it has worked with over the years. A generic email invitation is sent out to all beneficiaries as well as other stakeholders inviting them to the event (i even had to hand write some for the likes of our Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi and the Premier Colin Barnet just to name a few..). I was then incharge of monitoring their RSVP's and forming an official guest list.

Leading up to the day there was a lot of work to do, we contacted media outlets such as Seven News and The West who both agreed to send crew along to report on the function, with Seven news playing a broadcast on that evenings news and The West doing an article for the following days paper. A run sheet was created so we all knew exactly what was to be done and who was doing it on the day. I got assigned the job of greating the guests as they arrived, checking them in and answering any questions they had regarding the event, i got to chat with some very amazing people ranging from representatives from each charity, as well as some of Perths big names and million dollar partners.

I also had the opportunity of hanging out with the telethon stars of 2012 Conor ad Sophie and a little legend named Scott Geurini who at 6 yrs old has, in the last three years, raised over $25,000 for telethon by walking from his home in the country to their local footy oval which i hear is over 25km. Scott become the centre of both media reports appearing on the news and then in the paper the following day with Mr Stokes.

This event has encouraged me to, beyond my study, seek a job in the Not for Profit industry where my skills can be utilised to raise awareness to the amazing things these organisations achieve for our community.

Scott and Mr Stokes in The West



Beneficiaries recieving their certificates



Until next time

caitie

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