April 16, 2026 — The 64th Annual Variety Kids Telethon on March 21 and 22 raised $1,014,326 to support Golisano Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, and other children’s charities.
PEF members Scott Dobe and Patricia Moran volunteered at the phone banks along with other representatives of labor in western New York.
“My three children were born at this hospital and two of them spent time as preemies in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit),” Dobe said. “This hospital has always been special to my family.”
The telethon features a “celebrity child” each year, many of whom are eligible for services through New York state.
“As a physical therapist for the state Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD), I have become close to many of the former celebrity children who are eligible to receive services through OPWDD,” Dobe said. “Each year, many of these former celebrities return to the telethon which provides a place to catch up with each other.”
Dobe and Moran see participating in the telethon not only as a way to support the children’s hospital, but also to give back to the community that supported efforts to save Western New York Children’s Psychiatric Center. PEF worked with families, area legislators, civic leaders and many others for five years to derail then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to close the facility and move the services to Buffalo Psychiatric Center.
“The local Western New York Area Labor Federation and Buffalo Central Labor Council are big supporters of the telethon and were big supporters of our efforts to save WNYCPC,” Moran said. “It’s an honor to spend a Sunday afternoon with our labor friends to help answer phones at the telethon.
“A small sacrifice of time goes a long way to helping the community in so many ways,” they both said. “We build bridges with our union family, with the agency at large, and support the missions of our ‘O-agencies’ all at once.”
The Variety Kids Telethon is the nation’s longest-running, locally produced telethon. In 1962, Dr. Robert Warner asked Variety to help him fulfill his dream of a rehabilitation center for children with special needs. The first telethon raised more than $80,000, and the Robert Warner Rehabilitation Center for Children with Special Needs became a reality at Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo.