The 2020 Telethon finally made it possible to collect a total of nearly 80 million euros despite the cancellation, due to confinement, of the events that symbolize this charitable marathon, the organizers welcomed Thursday.
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The counter of the 34th edition of the Telethon had reached on December 6 58.29 million euros, but as every year, the collection exceeded the pledges sent during the 30 hours of the televised event, to reach 77.3 million euros, said the AFM -Téléthon in a press release.
The previous edition (December 2019, therefore before the first containment due to the epidemic) had collected 87 million euros (including 74.6 during the duration of the Telethon).
An "
exceptional
result
given the context
"
This result is nevertheless "
exceptional given the unprecedented context
", estimated the organization.
"
While the health restrictions linked to the epidemic prevented the organization, in their traditional form, of 90% of Telethon events, our volunteers deployed incredible creativity to make this Telethon a success
", rejoiced its president, Laurence Tiennot. -Herment.
“In
particular, they have transformed the festive meals usually shared in party rooms, into XXL drives.
Thus, they collected more than 12 million euros, or more than a third of the usual collection in the field!
», She added, making an appointment for the next edition on December 3 and 4, 2021.
Read also: Telethon: 58.29 million euros in donations during a confined edition
The event to collect donations for research on rare diseases was reduced in 2020 to its retransmission on the channels of France Televisions and challenges on the internet.
The 2020 Telethon celebrated the 30th anniversary of Généthon, the cutting-edge laboratory that this charitable marathon has funded and which has enabled several advances in gene therapy, which consists of introducing genetic material into cells to treat a disease.
