WLNS, Nonprofits To Aid Struggling Families

Young Broadcasting’s CBS affiliate WLNS Lansing, Mich. (DMA 115), seeking to assist struggling mid-Michigan families, will team with its nonprofit partners for the sixth annual Day of Giving on Thursday, Dec. 13. They are encouraging viewers to join in the daylong effort to collect funds, food and clothing for local chapters of philanthropic organizations, which provide residents with basic needs during the holidays and throughout the year.

WLNS and groups including the United Way, the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross and the Greater Lansing Food Bank are striving to help fund food banks and shelters throughout the area, which cater to an increasing number of Mid-Michigan families in need of help after losing their homes to a poor economy.

“The need in our community for the ‘Day of Giving’ has never been greater,” WLNS Station Operations Manager Gene Shanahan said. “We have always considered our primary year-round mission to be serving the members of our community, which is why we are so proud to once again devote a sizeable portion of our broadcast day and resources to this worthwhile cause. It is especially gratifying for all of us involved in this effort to see the amazing results from our viewers’ generous giving long after the holidays end.”

The station’s on-air Day of Giving starts with a segment during the WLNS’ Thursday noon newscast on Dec. 13, with one-minute breaks airing every half-hour afterward designed to raise awareness of the cause. The event will wrap with a one-hour special from 7 to 8 p.m., which will include a recap the day’s results. In each of the previous years, the station and its partners have raised about $7,500 in cash donations, as well as several truckloads of food and clothing.

A phone bank at the WLNS studios will accept cash donations from noon until 8 p.m. Donations can also be made online at www.wlns.com and by texting UWGIVE to 85944 to make a $5 gift through the United Way.