The second Inspiration Telethon was another success as the $500,000 fundraising target was met and surpassed. $514,132.85 in pledges and donations was reported at the end of the event on Saturday. Similar to last year, persons were able to donate by credit card, text, cheques, wire transfers, cash at various booths, buying promo items and by billing to their BTL and Smart post-paid accounts. The donations poured in from all across the country, and number of presentations were made at the Bliss during the live broadcast of the 10-hour event.

The largest donations came courtesy of the Belize Social Security Board, which presented the second installment of $50,000 from its pledge of $150,000 to be paid over three years; Belize Natural Energy Charitable Trust and the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association each presented $50,000. Just minutes before the 6 o’clock totals were presented, a true angel to Belize’s children with special arrived. In an act of extreme generosity, Mr. Jack Chawla presented a blank cheque to be made out for whatever was needed to meet the target. His donation was $92,015.97! In addition to the corporate donors, there were many touching moments as children, several of whom have disabilities, brought their piggy banks filled with their life savings to contribute to the cause.

Throughout the day, many guest phone operators stopped by including Prime Minister Dean Barrow and several members of his Cabinet: Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Gaspar Vega; Hon. Anthony Martinez; Hon. Patrick Faber, Min. of Education; Hon. Herman Longsworth, Min. of State, Min. of Education, Youth & Sports. Other guest operators included the directors of the LifeLine Foundation, members of the Belize Cancer Society as well as Sen. Juliet Thimbriel, CEO of Human Development Judith Alpuche and Belize City Mayor, Darrell Bradley.

Mrs. Barrow expresses her sincere appreciation and gratitude to everyone who contributed to the telethon’s success, including thousands of corporate and individual donors, the technical partners, media houses and the many volunteers, performers and emcees! The actual earnings are still being tabulated as funds are still coming in. The event’s success will allow for the purchase of equipment for the Inspiration Center, which the Special Envoy hopes to have operational by the end of 2013.