Extra Good Friday

In its 57th year the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal raised a whopping $16,846,396.09 -up from $16.4m in 2013.

 

 

It takes a small city of volunteers, staff and support from companies including Seven, 3AW, Herald & Weekly Times, to stage an event of this scale.

A staff of 200 Seven employees staged the day at the new venue of the Plenary at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre. In the foyer there were performances, autograph signings, auxiliary sales, face painting and entertainment.

Volunteers worked the phones, crew manned cameras, sound, technical, make-up. There was security, drivers, administration, publicity, communications, musicians, performers, management and more.

A new house was auctioned for $717,000.

Co-patrons Jennifer Keyte and veteran news man Dan Webb were there, along with John Deeks, David Koch, Sam Armytage, Helen Kapalos, Virginia Gay,  Mark Beretta, Luke Jacobz, Manu Feildel, Molly Meldrum, Noni Hazlehurst, Rebecca Gibney, Brett Climo, Larry Emdur, Peter Mitchell, Tim Watson, Dean Felton, Nick McCallum, Damien Bodie, Agro, stars from My Kitchen Rules, Home and Away and more.

Performers included Kate Ceberano, Leo Sayer, The Collective, Taylor Henderson, Richard Clapton, Daryl Braithwaite, Russell Morris, Nathaniel, Joe Camilleri, Samantha Jade, and Mark Seymour.

Andrew O’Keefe told TV Tonight he had been attending Good Friday Appeals for more than a decade.

“I think I’ve seen 3 entire casts of Home and Away come and go since I’ve been doing the Good Friday Appeal. Mostly onto better things I should add. And I don’t mean that as a slap in the face to Ray Meagher at all!” he joked.

“The one constant throughout all of those years is the sense of inspiration that every person involved draws from the event.

“What you take away from the hospital is not so much the pain of the people’s disease and disorder but the extraordinary resilience of humanity –if not physically then at least emotionally or, dare I say it, even spiritually.”

 

Of course, telethons are known for their unscripted Live TV moments, as panel host O’Keefe explained.

“That job is a bit like riding a barrel down Niagara. You just hand on and let the torrents buffet you as they will. There’s allegedly a running order but that’s really just to give people something to do on the days before. What goes to air bears little resemblance to the plan!” he said.

“Telethons used to be a lot more zany than they are today. You could get away with a lot more back when…

“But still there is that slightly anarchic, slightly naughty schoolyard twist to every moment on air.

 

Talent do it all from reading donations, to manning phones, signing autographs, visiting the hospital -anything to help raise funds for a good cause.

“It’s a peripatetic day for talent because you don’t know what’s going to happen to you. You turn up with nothing but a pocketful of good will. You say ‘Yes’ to every suggestion that is put to you during the day. Now if that means in the cases of the young stars getting their kit off on the panel for $10,000 well so be it. If that means you were going to have a cup of coffee but instead you’re going to the hospital via 3AW and a fun run in Geelong, well so be it,” O’Keefe explained.

“It’s the looseness of the day that makes it so much fun and for many the ‘loosh-ness’ of the night I would think.”

 

Seven stars give up their public holiday for the annual appeal. But while it’s not mandatory to attend, it’s a network tradition to do your bit.

“They expect you to give up your day if you can,” O’Keefe conceded. “If you have other plans that are significant no-one minds. But if you don’t you’re viewed as bit of a piker. One wonders why you wouldn’t if you could.”