Telethon donations down 5% to €90m
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ORGANISERS HAD FEARED A BIGGER DECLINE AFTER A RIVAL CHARITY ACCUSED THE TELETHON OF 'LEECHING OFF PEOPLE'S GENEROSITY' SUPPORTERS of the Telethon donated €90m to charity this
weekend, down 5% on last year but better than the 20% decline seen in the first few hours. The annual event, which broadcasts non-stop for 30 hours on France 2 and France 3, brought in
€90,107,555 compared with €95,200,125 in 2008. Donations in the first 12 hours of the fundraising marathon stood at €7.15 million, down 20% on the €8.58 million raised in the same amount of
time last year. Organisers had feared there would be a significant drop, after the event was accused of "leeching off people's generosity" by the head of an Aids charity.
Sidaction president Pierre Bergé started a public debate two weeks ago by claiming muscular distrophy charity AFM was getting "too much money" from the annual fundraiser. The
_Association Française contre les Myopathies_ - which has organised the annual Telethon since 1987 - said it was satisfied with the result and thanked everyone for their hard work and
generosity.