CBS 3/CW Phone Bank For Ronald McDonald House Charities Raises More Than $610,000 For Local Programs

Philadelphia, March 15, 2011 – CBS 3 and The CW Philly's annual Ronald McDonald House Charities Phone Bank, a five hour on-air fundraiser for one of the Delaware Valley's most beloved charities, raised $610,350 today through contributions from viewers and corporate sponsors, far exceeding last year's total of $346,746.

Anchors Susan Barnett and Chris May hosted the event broadcast in cut-ins from 3 to 8 p.m. with special appearances from the CBS television and radio family locally including Anchors Erika von Tiehl and Pat Ciarrocchi, Sports Director Beasley Reece, Meteorologist Kathy Orr, KYW Newsradio's Michelle Durham, Ross Brittain, Valerie Knight and Frank Lewis of 98.1 WOGL's Breakfast Club, Spike and Sarah from 94WYSP and Chris Stigall and Dom Giordano from Talk Radio 1210 WPHT.

All funds raised through the phone bank benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities, a non-profit organization that creates, finds and supports programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children in our community.

RMHC of the Philadelphia Region grants hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to support local non-profit programs. In addition, the charity supports the Philadelphia, Southern New Jersey and Delaware Ronald McDonald Houses; 13 Ronald McDonald Family Rooms® in area hospitals such as Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Cooper University Hospital (Camden, N.J.), and Alfred I. DuPont Hospital (Wilmington, DE); the St. Christopher's Foundation for Children Ronald McDonald Care Mobile® and four scholarship programs for graduating seniors in the area. The charity receives its support from McDonald's Corporation, McDonald's Owner/Operators, corporate donors and McDonald's customers.

CBS 3 and The CW Philly acknowledge the support of McDonald's Restaurants of the Greater Philadelphia Region, Inc., The Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Company, AT&T, the Tri-State Toyota Dealers Association and Keystone Foods in making the Ronald McDonald House Charities Phone Bank possible.

CBS 3 (KYW-TV) and The CW Philly (WPSG-TV) are part of CBS Television Stations, a division of CBS Corporation.