Easter Seals Canada honours Telethon host Stu Harrison
Easter Seals Canada has selected Peterborough’s Stuart Harrison as one of the 2021 Easter Seals National Volunteer Award winners for his 43 years of work on the Easter Seals Telethon.
“It’s certainly an honour to be honoured this way,” said Harrison, president and CEO of the Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce.
Easter Seals is a national charity that works to enhance the lives of people with disabilities. Each year, a volunteer from each province receives the National Volunteer Award.
“It’s nice to be included in (the group of award winners) and read their stories. It reaffirms that there’s people doing this sort of thing all over Peterborough city and county and the country,” said Harrison.
Harrison began working with Easter Seals in 1978 while he was at CHEX Radio, which broadcasted the telethon at the time. As a radio announcer, he would read the pledges on air and he’s been involved with the telethon ever since with his role expanding to host over the years.
“It never crossed my mind to not do it,” said Harrison.
Coralie Jacobs, manager of development, eastern region for Easter Seals Ontario, says Harrison pushes people every year to do better than the year before.
“He doesn’t know or have any concept of how valuable he is to Easter Seals,” said Jacobs. “He’s just that understated contributing player that people don’t realize how much he does behind the scenes.”
Easter Seals calls Harrison their “secret weapon” because he makes his work on the telethon look so easy, including his work with the kids who appear on the show.
Harrison goes out of his way to get to know the children he works with before they go on air, getting down on his knees to be on their level, letting them know what they’ll talk about and trying to make it an easy and fun experience for them.
“It’s little things like that that make a real difference,” said Harrison. “I love it, it’s great fun and they’re great people and they’re going to be great big people.”
Harrison says he hasn’t thought about how long he’ll continue his work with the telethon, but he considers it an honour and doesn’t see an end in sight.
“I guess if I get to a stage where I’m a liability then I’ll probably bow out,” he said with a laugh.
This year’s Easter Seals Telethon will air on YourTV and Global Peterborough on June 13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.