COURTESY OF KITV The Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon in Hawaii raised $347,108 by 5 p.m. yesterday.

Hawaii raises $347,108
for muscular dystrophy

The results in the isles are slightly
less than last year's donations

Organizers said the Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon in Hawaii raised $347,108 by 5 p.m. yesterday, about $9,000 less than last year.

Despite the decline, Hawaii MDA district coordinator Audrey Taniguchi was pleased with this year's fund-raiser.

"You can't expect it to always beat the year before," she said. "It was a very good telethon."

Nationwide, the 21 1/2-hour Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon raised $59.4 million for the association.

Donations totaled 1.8 percent less than last year's $60.5 million, and organizers said that power failures and other disruptions from Hurricane Frances contributed to the decline.

Television stations in the Florida cities of Jacksonville, Sarasota and Gainesville canceled broadcasts of the telethon completely. Other Florida stations showed only the national portions, preventing the broadcast of local segments, during which most pledges are made.

Organizers said only one other telethon, in the 1980s, failed to surpass the previous year's total. This year's 39th annual telethon, based in Los Angeles, was shown on nearly 200 TV stations nationwide.

About 115 volunteers helped put on Hawaii's telethon, taking pledges and filing donations. Taniguchi said the donations benefit muscular dystrophy research and the association's service programs.

Locally, the pledges go to sending children suffering from muscular dystrophy to summer camp, providing medical equipment, research and other programs.