Albany’s Center for Disability Services’ telethon breaks $2M mark

ALBANY >> Phones were ringing off the hook Sunday at the 54th annual Center for Disability Services Telethon.

Sunday’s seven-hour telethon was broadcast live on channel Fox 23 from the Holiday Inn on Wolf Road, and the theme for this year’s event was kindness.

The yearly telethon is the not-for-profit’s largest annual fundraiser. The Center for Disability Services has enabled and empowered thousands over the past 72 years, thanks to a community that has shown decades of support, organizers said.

The broadcast also raises awareness of the center and its services. There to help were two of New York’s star athletes. New York Yankees pitcher Shawn Kelley visited Albany to show his support, sign autographs and take photos alongside New York Giant Andre Brown.

“If anything we can do by being here brings in more money for the foundation, it’s amazing,” Kelley said. Happy to spend his Sunday supporting the cause, Kelley hopes his presence could “bring in a little attention and pump in some more dollars.”

After touring St. Margaret’s Center, a local nursing facility providing care to children and young adults with complex medical needs, “[Kelley and Brown] greeted our consumers and our staff with open arms,” Center for Disability Services spokeswoman Anne Schneider Costigan said.

“It’s absolutely tremendous,” she said amidst the hustle and bustle of the event. “The phones are lighting up and were just having a wonderful telethon.”

Among those manning the phones were students from several local high schools who volunteered their weekend for the cause.

“The community has really supported our phones this year,” Schneider Costigan said.

Through a matter of coincidence, the Sons of the American Legion Detachment of New York held its mid-winter conference on the same weekend as the telethon at the Holiday Inn the past few years. This year, the two organizations coordinated, and Legion members donated and staffed the phones for a portion of the day.

Donations large and small were received with gratitude.

“We are forever grateful to everyone who contributes to this telethon so that it continues to be the success that it is,” Schneider Costigan said.

Last year, the fundraiser broke $2 million.

“We’re hoping to exceed $2 million and with a little bit more than what we raised last year,” Schneider Costigan said early Sunday afternoon. They did just that, raising a total of $2,007,973.

Into the evening, the outreach continued.

“The community is calling,” she said. “The community continues to support it immensely.”

Funds raised through Sunday’s telethon are crucial to the charity and its consumers. For disabled individuals, the donations are a well-appreciated help.

“The continuation of the services here have meant a very lot to my well-being,” said longtime consumer Shameka Andrews, who lives in one of the center’s residences.

Andrews is grateful for the funds the event generates each year, so that others may receive the generous services that have been available to her since she was born.

“It’s nice to see people coming together for a good cause and doing good,” Andrews said.

Lauren Halligan may be reached at 270-1287.