Please be generous!
Firefighters are out on the streets collecting at road blocks. Please be generous. You can also donate directly here by clicking on the DONATE button above. And you can credit your local fire department.
THANKS for your support of children with special needs.
World Champion Golfer Crusade auction!
World Champion golfer Rory McIlroy has autographed some PGA one-of-a-kind golf items you can own…and support the WHAS Crusade for Children!
Click here or here for the Ebay site featuring 8 unique items!
Our thanks to WHAS11’s own Joe Federle for organizing this great fundraiser idea.
Mac King headlines America’s Most Successful Local Telethon
Comedy Magician Mac King will kick off a magical weekend for the 62nd Annual WHAS Crusade for Children. King will perform at the Crusade Variety Show on Saturday, June 6, 2015.
Show time is 7:00pm (EDT) at the Kentucky Center for the Arts Bomhard Theater in Louisville. Admission is FREE! But seating is limited.
“Mac King will kick off our magical weekend,” said Dawn Lee, President & CEO of the WHAS Crusade for Children. “The people of Kentuckiana make the Crusade truly magical and special needs children are the real winners!”
The WHAS Crusade for Children begins at 1:00pm on Saturday, June 6 with fire departments, civic groups, organizations and companies reporting donations. The Crusade concludes around 7:00pm on Sunday, June 7.
Melissa Swan and Terry Meiners will host
As always, Melissa Swan of WHAS11 News and 84WHAS Radio’s Terry Meiners will emcee the Crusade. They will be joined by Crusade favorite Patrick Hughes who has a surprise in store. Also this year Crusade favorite Melissa Combs; ZOOperstars!; Misty Mountain String Band; Todd Hildreth and the Crusade Quintet; the 2014 Kentucky State Fair Coca-Cola Classic Talent Show winner Audrey Bell Adams; The Diane Moore Dancers; The Miracle Dancers and new this year The Miracle Teens.
With a big howdy, and a warm smile, Mac King has welcomed more than one million audience members during the last 15 years to the Harrah’s Showroom in Las Vegas for an afternoon of laughter and magic with his own one-man show, “The Mac King Comedy Magic Show.” King captivates audiences as he casts out a fishing line over their heads and catches live goldfish out of mid-air, performs amazing sleights-of-hand, makes his head completely disappear in a paper bag, and renders himself invisible, all while remaining unbelievably funny. Because of his quick wit and extensive audience interaction, no two shows are alike.
Mac King’s successful career in magic comes as no surprise. King, who was born and raised in Kentucky, grew up around two grandfathers who were magicians, and gained an interest in magic at an early age when he checked out a book on magic in his school library. As a child he would perform magic shows for his family and friends, and by age 10 he had his first paid show at a friend’s birthday party. While studying for dual degrees in Magic and Anthropology from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, King spent his summer vacations performing in a two-person magic act with fellow Kentucky magician Lance Burton.
In the 1990s King began appearing regularly on NBC-TV’s “The World’s Greatest Magic Shows.” While filming these shows at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, he caught the attention of many local bookers for casino showrooms. Soon after, King began to appear in local shows such as: “Spellbound” at Harrah’s Las Vegas, “The Great Radio City Music Hall Spectacular” at The Flamingo, “Splash!” at the Riviera, and with comedian Rita Rudner at The Desert Inn. In 2000, King took the stage at Harrah’s Las Vegas, where he now performs “The Mac King Comedy Magic Show” twice daily, Tuesday through Saturday at 1 and 3 p.m.
In its first 61 years, the Crusade has raised $160 million for children with special needs. One hundred percent of all donations raised Crusade weekend are returned in the form of grants to agencies, hospitals and schools that make life better for children with special needs.
It takes a cast of thousands to stage the annual miracle. From individual donors dropping pocket change into boots at firefighter road blocks to children with lemonade stands to corporations offering payroll deduction, it all comes together each year on the first weekend in June.
