The Kinsmen Foundation received two significant bequests during this year’s telethon, one of them from a farm family in the Weyburn area. The two bequests and higher than average donations from all other sources contributed to Telemiracle 42 setting a record total of $7,151,256.
Telemiracle received the third largest bequest in the organization’s history and it was presented live on Saturday night, as the three children of Lucien Wayne Jacobs gave Telemiracle $1.2 million.
Jacobs was a farmer from Trossachs who farmed 5,000 acres right up to the time of his death in a farming accident during the 2014 harvest at the age of 76.
The largest bequest ever made to Telemiracle came from Dr. Phil Thacker, a P.O.W. City Kinsmen member and swine researcher at the University of Saskatchewan, who left Telemiracle $1,532,792.75. Dr. Thacker died from pancreatic cancer in February 2017.
Long-time show host, Bob McGrath, who retired in 2015 (Telemiracle 39) from regular hosting duties, returned as a special guest for Sunday afternoon. McGrath retired from full-time hosting activities in March 2015 (Telemiracle 39) to spend more time with his wife Ann. However when contacted, Bob was thrilled to come back to help celebrate and honour the gifts Telemiracle received this year. Bob was well-known for many years as a cast member of the children’s show, “Sesame Street”.
“I’m speechless,” remarked Susan Colbow, Telemiracle 42 Chair, while holding back tears. “People from Saskatchewan are among the most generous in the world.”
Kinsmen Foundation Chair, Scott Lamb, is proud of the hard work of the Kinsmen community. “We raise money once a year at Telemiracle to help as many people as we can, right here at home. The Kinsmen Foundation will put the gifts people have entrusted us with to good use.”
This year’s total is the largest in Telemiracle history, surpassing the total in 2012 (Telemiracle 36). That year’s total was $5,906,229.
The Kinsmen Foundation makes miracles by providing Saskatchewan people and organizations with special needs equipment and access to medical assistance. Through Telemiracle dollars, the Kinsmen Foundation is able to gift things such as mobility equipment, travel costs to get to medical facilities, community vans, and equipment in hospitals and health centres.
