Community calls in $64K to OSNS
Locals had the chance to experience the magic behind the OSNS Child and Youth Development Centre’s 39th annual Share a Smile Telethon like never before on Sunday, as the event shifted location to the Cherry Lane Shopping Centre. It paid off with donations totalling $63,785 While moving the telethon from its usual home at the centre to the mall allowed the OSNS to bring in a wider variety of talent, it meant the telethon couldn’t be shown live on TV as it had in the past.
“Because of the cables and the proximity of the (Shaw) van to the mall, it was going to be a bit harder (to televise),” explained OSNS community relations organizer Meg Dimma.
The event was instead live-streamed on available social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
But despite new concepts such as location and live-streaming, Dimma is confident in the telethon’s success.
“The talent is just stealing the show,” Dimma said as dancers took the stage behind her. “On TV, I don’t know if they definitely get the same amount of attention.”
Ana Afonso was at the mall donating to the OSNS telethon and was overall impressed by the experience as someone who has watched the telethon on TV and also attended it at the OSNS centre.
“There’s more interaction amongst people,” she said, adding that it was nice to see the businesses get involved. “It’ll be interesting to see how the organizers at the end think if this is the way it goes or if they go back to the OSNS building.”
Dimma noted that people heading to the shopping centre were wowed by the event as they walked in and wanted to learn more about what the OSNS does for the community.
“That’s an audience we’ve never had before,” Dimma said. “But I’m sure there’s people that are missing channel 11.”
OSNS speech pathologist Shadi Asadi was at the telethon and managing the volunteers making phone calls, a role that she’s done in the past.
Having the event live in person rather than on camera, Asadi said, brought a mixed reaction from volunteers on the panel.
“One person said, ‘My friend asked if I’m going to see you on TV this time,’” Asadi recalled, explaining that some volunteers preferred the televised event to share with friends and families, while others didn’t enjoy the feeling of having a camera directed on them.
The silver lining, Asadi added, is that people who couldn’t see friends or family working the phones on TV instead came down to the shopping centre and enjoyed the activities while learning more about the OSNS.