Joplin woman continues fundraising for MDA

Local News

Discussion

September 5, 2010

By Emily Younker Globe Staff Writer The Joplin Globe Sun Sep 05, 2010, 10:07 PM CDT

JOPLIN, Mo. — Regular viewers of the annual telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association will likely notice a familiar face today in Stephanie Vaughn.

Now 21, Stephanie has been a staple of almost every local MDA telecast since she was born, raising money each year for “Jerry’s kids” with her older siblings, said her mother, Deborah Vaughn, of Joplin.

“We just did it and made a habit of it,” she said.

The Muscular Dystrophy Association is a nonprofit agency dedicated to curing muscular dystrophy and related diseases by funding research activities. The annual Labor Day telethon is hosted by entertainer Jerry Lewis, who is the association’s national chairman.

Deborah Vaughn said she had contributed to the MDA even before Stephanie was born, but it was after her daughter’s birth that giving became more meaningful.

Stephanie has both lissencephaly, which is the underdevelopment of the brain in a fetus, and pachygyria, which means thick folds of the brain. The disorders mean that Stephanie thinks like a 3-year-old and talks like a 1 1/2-year-old, her mother said.

She said it has been particularly touching to watch Stephanie interact over the years with children who have muscular dystrophy, a group of diseases that weaken a body’s muscles.

“They are so accepting of each other where they are,” she said. “If the whole world could watch this, (they would) understand that everybody has something they need help with.”

When Stephanie was younger, she and her mother collected donations for the MDA by going door to door in their neighborhood. Stephanie’s asthma now prevents her from doing much walking, so Deborah Vaughn simply writes a small check to the association for her daughter to present during the local televised segments of the nationwide telethon.

Stephanie doesn’t understand where the money goes, her mother said, but she has participated in enough telethons to recognize — in photos from previous years — the fish tank in which children will dump their contributions during the local segments.

Deborah Vaughn said she doesn’t know how much she has contributed to MDA over the years and estimates that it’s “probably not much.” But every little bit counts, she said.

“If we can (contribute), everybody ought to be able to do it,” she said. “It’s kind of like, ‘What’s your excuse?’”

The telethon began Sunday night and will continue until 6 p.m. today. Broadcast from Las Vegas, it will air locally on KODE-TV.

Telethon history

The first telethon, held in 1955 at Carnegie Hall in New York, raised $600,000 for the MDA. Pledges and donations last year brought in about $60.5 million for the association.

Text Only

Local News

Water company cites reconnections
The May 22 tornado has caused a dramatic drop in water usage for the Missouri American Water Co., but things are starting to turn around — one reconnection at a time.

February 10, 2012 1 Photo
Survivor of ’78 Connor collapse dead at age 64
A big story in the history of Joplin was the 1978 collapse of the Connor Hotel at Fourth and Main streets. Alfred Summers, the man at the heart of that story, died at 6:41 a.m. Friday at St. John’s Mercy Hospital in Joplin after an illness. He was 64.

February 10, 2012
County asks for dismissal of sheriff’s suit
The Jasper County Commission is the final authority in budget allocations, including those from the county’s Law Enforcement Sales Tax fund, county lawyers have argued in a motion recently filed in Jasper County Circuit Court.

February 10, 2012
Winter weather back in forecast
The arctic front that passed over Missouri on Friday will bring cold temperatures to the region tonight.

February 10, 2012
Weather service upgrading radar at Springfield station
The National Weather Service radar station at Springfield will be out of service for about two weeks to permit the installation of dual-polarization technology.

February 10, 2012
MSSU, PSU to conduct financial-aid events
Missouri Southern State University in Joplin and Pittsburg (Kan.) State University each will conduct events Sunday to help high school seniors with completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

February 10, 2012
Authorities term deaths of teens murder-suicide
Authorities say a teenage woman apparently shot her estranged boyfriend several times before turning the gun on herself and taking her own life.

February 10, 2012
Mike Pound: One man in America wants his robo call
I like to think I have pretty thick skin. If I didn’t, all the emails I get with the subject lines that read “Hey moron” would bother me. But they don’t, so I do.

February 10, 2012
Proposed Kan. abortion ban blocked by abortion foe
An influential anti-abortion legislator is blocking the push for a ban on abortion in the Kansas Constitution, highlighting a split among abortion opponents over tactics and frustrating the group advocating the “personhood” proposal Friday.

February 10, 2012
Kansas House GOP issues tax plan
House Republican leaders are proposing a plan to cut Kansas income taxes, removing one key objection to an earlier proposal from Gov. Sam Brownback.

February 10, 2012
More Local News Headlines

Water company cites reconnections

Local News

Search Results

Discussion

Joplin woman continues fundraising for MDA

Eliminating the state income tax and increasing sales tax was debated during a press day on Thursday at the Missouri Capitol. Do you favor that proposal?

Site Map

Contact Us