The 12th annual WSB Care-A-Thon, a community-wide fundraiser for children with cancer, raised $1,522,085 by the close of the event Friday evening.
On Thursday and Friday, WSB radio talent Scott Slade, Neal Boortz and Clark Howard left the studio to broadcast live from the Aflac Cancer Center and Blood Disorders Service at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. For 37 hours, they put aside their usual talks and encourage listeners to donate for a charitable cause, help cancer-afflicted children.
Funds raised will be used to support family support services, research and the Aflac Cancer Center fellowship program.
A total of 380 volunteers answered phones and took pledges.
Some people to make an in-person donation after talking with volunteers, said Diane Vaughan, senior development officer of the Aflac Cancer Center.
"Yesterday (Thursday), a donor who decided to stay anonymous came to make a $20,000 pledge. He was so excited for the volunteers' spirit and their work and upped his gift to $30,000. He spent here another 15 minutes and left giving a donation of $50,000," Vaughan said. "They don't want the credit, they just want to give back."
Volunteers and staff start cheering around 1 p.m. Friday, when staff announced that the amount raised was close to $1 million.
"We never set a monetary goal. Our goal is always to cure cancer in children," said Condace Pressley, assistant program director for AM 750 and 95.5 News/Talk WSB.
WSB radio host Neal Boortz is retiring in January, and this edition of the Care-A-Thon was to be the last one for him.
"He would be back. He wants to be back next year to help children," said Pressley.
Donations will remain open on the WSB radio website for another week.
"We know some listeners just miss the deadline and we want to give them all a chance to take part on this," Pressley said.
WSB radio is part of the Cox Media Group, which also owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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