The event will take place on Sunday 30 January, from 4pm to 10pm, at the Théâtre du Quévry in Rouen-Noranda and on the airwaves Nouveau Abitebe-Tmiscaming.

The organization raised a record $637,000 last January during the 24th Telethon Conference. As General Manager Remy Mallo explains, this exceptional result has enabled the supplier to develop new services.

We set the goal at $500,000 because it’s an amount that allows us to provide excellent services to our members, he explains. But with a result like last year, it allowed us to invest in entertainment and sports, which we hadn’t done before. The more money we have, the more we can invest to provide a better quality of life for people with disabilities in the region.

The General Manager makes no secret of his pride in seeing that Telethon remains just as important to the region, 25 years after its inception.

We believed in it at first, but didn’t know it would do so well, admits Remy Mallo. People in counties have told us that telethons are no longer working. We launched the idea by making sure that we would tell the people of the area what we were doing and that we would do what we said. By not having to fight to keep the money here, we were able to develop services in partnership with the community.

Danny Marchand and Jean-François Blaise are Honorary Co-Chairs of the Telethon of the Resource for People with Disabilities in Abitibi-Témiscamingue and Nord-du-Québec.

Photo: Radio Canada / Marc-Andre Landry

For this 25th conference, the resource invited Danny Marchand and Jean-François Bliss as honorary co-chairs. The two businessmen are also co-owners of Foreur de Val d’Or and Huskies de Rouyn-Noranda respectively.

When Remy told me that the Furor had agreed, I couldn’t let them win, Jean-François Blaise assures. Seriously, that’s an easy reason to support. It is a community project for the area to help people who are not as fortunate as others.

We know that supplier needs are increasing and it was only natural that we partnered with our competitors from the huskies, adds Danny Marchand. We leave all that aside when we talk about solidarity. We will do whatever it takes to meet the challenge.

Note that the musical direction of the Telethon will again be assumed by Vincent Lemay Theverge. Several artists from the region and from abroad have already confirmed their presence, such as Jacques Michel and Gars du Nord, a New Brunswick group made up of Wilfried Lebothelier and Jean-Marc Couture.