Sunday's opening day of the 1997 Alumni Fund Telethon ended with over $107,000 pledged, exceeding any of the single-night totals from last year and possibly setting an all-time single-night record.
Assistant Director of the Alumni Fund Christopher Boffoli said he believes the $107,000 -- which was raised from among 1,070 alumni pledges -- "is an all-time record for the program."
Senior intern for the telethon Sam Keating '97 said the Sunday total exceeded any of the single-night totals for the entire 1996 telethon.
Last year's telethon averaged $57,000 a night, he said.
"We're really excited," Keating said. "We had a lot of callers -- 91 over five hours." Keating said the high volume of callers was "definitely the biggest difference" between this year and past years.
Boffoli said the high turnout was unexpected, especially considering the telethon coincided with the broadcast of the National Football League conference championship games.
"We expected we wouldn't have a lot of callers because of the football games," he said. "We had 50 lines and were expecting around 50 students. Ninety-one students made calls, and, at times, we didn't have enough places" for them.
Boffoli said the turnout "shows how committed Dartmouth undergrads are."
The telethon's organizers hope to continue to attract volunteer callers, Keating said.
"The single most important factor in keeping up this momentum is to keep callers coming," he said.
The telethon has set a fundraising goal of $500,000, leaving them at 20 percent of their goal after only one day of calling.
The nine-day telethon will continue through next week, concluding on Sunday, Jan. 26.
Carolyn Abruzzo '97, senior intern for the telethon, said the high turnout was due in part to the participation of Chi Heorot fraternity and Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority.
Abruzzo said Jaime-Faye Bean '98 raised $7306.82, the highest individual total on Sunday.
Bean, who was the second-highest fundraiser in last year's telethon, said she became involved with alumni fundraising through Green Corps, a group of student callers employed by Blunt Alumni Center to aid in the telethon.
"I've been involved with Green Corps and really enjoyed calling alumni and talking to them," she said. "It's easy work and the telethon prizes are a real perk."
Boffoli said the football games may have helped the fundraising effort.
"A lot of alumni were home yesterday, perhaps for the football games," he said. "That might have helped us out."
Though some alumni were annoyed at being disturbed during the games, Boffoli said the overall response was terrific.
"We generally had a good response from the alumni," he said. "They were happy to hear from us."
Boffoli also praised the senior interns for their contributions to Sunday's success. "The senior interns put on a full-court press," he said. "They are organized and connected."
