Students take pledges at UNC-TV telethon

By Hannah Simpson
Around the Town Editor

Students rose to the call March 15, when they traveled to Chapel Hill to participate in a live telethon at UNC-TV.

Answered calls
The students participated in the UNC-TV Festival, answering calls for dollar donations and pledges while television personalities sold books and DVD’s on air.

Dr. Diane Jones, vice chancellor for Student Affairs, asked the SGA to participate in the telethon.

She said UNCP is solicited by UNC-TV each year, but this is the first year in many that students went to participate.

The students arrived at 10:30 a.m. and worked until 3:30 p.m. along with a high school and several individual volunteers. “I had one person call me and ask if we could fix her cable because she couldn’t see the telethon,” Jamel Porter, president of the 10% Society, said. SGA Sen. Dewone Gaillard related a story about a “little boy” who called wishing to pledge $90 on his parent’s credit card, but couldn’t remember his mail address.

The students worked between sessions of previously taped shows. Volunteers would file into the room when the “break” was coming up, put on their headsets and prepare to type a caller’s information into a computer in front of them. After each break, the students would gather and discuss the calls they received and whether they saw themselves live on television.

On TV
SGA Sen. Bailey Sherwood said she noticed she was on the screen around eight times.

Still, she said, her family didn’t see her on the telethon.

The students were provided with lunch while on break.

Volunteers often took turns answering the phones, while others waited in a room which had various props from televisin sets.

The studenst wore UNCP t-shirts provided by the Chancellor’s office.