Ella-Rae Malinowski decided for her sixth birthday that she wanted all of her party guests to bring toonies instead of birthday gifts, so she could donate them to Telemiracle, and her hometown of Central Butte has certainly gotten on board.
Malinowski, who just celebrated her eighth birthday, has been organizing her Toonies for Telemiracle project for three years now and has no plans on slowing down.
“I like helping people,” Malinowski said matter-of-factly, when asked why she decided to do this.
Her party this year was even bigger than ever, taking over the local rink for skating, face painting, horse-drawn wagon rides — and, of course, donations of toonies for Telemiracle.
“People continue to give her donations, too, in the community and our friends and family from all around. There's always toonies coming our way, from December until March,” said Lindsay Crowley, Malinowski’s mother.
Malinowski’s birthday project has grown over the years, welcoming support and help from the community in a big way. Local volunteers helped her run her party this year, and over 70 guests showed up to support her, bringing cash for her cause.
She’s very proud of the donations she’s been able to collect for the famous telethon, and the difference her project has helped make in people’s lives.
Over the last two years, Malinowski has collected over $2,200 to present to Telemiracle, and this year she’s aiming to bring her donation total even higher.
She’s collected just under $1,000 so far, and is hoping to raise that total to beat the previous year’s, which was $1,200.
Last year, when Malinowski attended the telethon to present her donation on air, she got to take a look behind the scenes with the vice-chair of the Foundation, who showed her where her money goes and how it helps people.
“It was really cool to see what everyone did,” said Malinowski.
Although she found herself nervous to be on television at first, the experience was definitely worth it for her and she’s looking forward to doing it again.
“It's sometimes scary because they have the big screen at the bottom of the stage and I always know to not look at it, but then I look at,” said Malinowski, who’s planning on taking cue cards with her this year.
With this year’s telethon just a short few weeks away, Malinowski is already working on what she’d like to say when she takes the stage to present her donation this year.
This year, Telemiracle will air on Mar. 7 and Mar. 8, and Malinowski is expecting to present her donation sometime on the Sunday of the telethon.
