Reading for money: Remembering the MS Read a Thon

Bobby Orr was a big supporter of the
MS Read-a-Thon. At left is a promotional card
readers received for participating in the
read-a-thon, and above is the message
that was on the back. I received a similar card
when I participated in the read-a-thon.
Source: https://disleelandia.com/2021/03/04/
bobby-orr-read-a-thon-promotional-card/
(May be subject to copyright)

It was something novel – literally – that turned from a treat into a nightmare, then a cool experience in the end.

Such was my first ever MS Read-a-thon.

Taking the pledge(s)
One day our teacher introduced the MS read-a-thon. We learned that MS stood for Multiple Sclerosis and it was a disease that attacked myelin. Myelin is the coating of nerves, and when it is gone, the messages nerves carry get jumbled. We saw all this in a cartoon.

Then we learned about the read-a-thon. We collected pledges and raised money for MS research based on the number of books we read. If someone pledged 10 cents, that meant that they paid me 10 cents for every book I read. I would gather all that money and send it in by a certain date.

Well, some of the other guys in class were doing it, so I did too. The other thing was that Bobby Orr was a spokesman for the read-a-thon. We even got a post card of an autographed picture of Orr in his Chicago Black Hawks uniform, with a message on the back. I was just young enough to never have seen Orr play, but I read all about him, and both my Dad and my brother had talked about him. I thought that post card was pretty cool.

Mike, a friend and neighbour who I rode the school bus with, collected pledges on the bus. So I did too. Looking back I am surprised anyone pledged money to me, but three or four did, all at I think one cent or maybe 10 cents. I also got pledges from my parents and my sister.

Reading
I started reading books, then lost interest in the whole thing. So did most of my classmates. As the deadline loomed, I wanted to at least read 10 books. Mike asked our teacher if Tin Tin counted. They were essentially graphic novels of the time, and he devoured them. The teacher said they did count, so he counted close to 10 as books on his sheet. I remember seeing his sheet on the bus. He showed it to one of the older kids, Richard who was in like Grade 10 or 11 and he mocked Mike. “Who’s Ti Tin?” he said. Mike just missed an “n” that was all.

In the end, I did get to 10 books, with the strong encouragement of my mother.

Money where your mouth is
Now it was time to collect those pledges. I tried asking the students on the bus who pledged money. Not a single one of them paid up.

I didn’t know what to do, and I was pretty disillusioned.

The next thing I remember, my Mom and Dad picked me up after school one day. Mom had figured out exactly how much money I had to send in, and put it all in the envelope provided. We drove to the post office, and she helped me get my first ever money order, which I enclosed and sent off to the MS Read-a-thon people.

“Don’t ever do that again,” my Mom told me.

To this day, I have been involved in a lot of fundraisers but never participated in another where I had to solicit then collect pledges.

At that point, I really didn’t enjoy the experience.

Happy ending
A few weeks later, my parents had picked me up from school again. Mom said I got some mail, and handed me a letter.

I opened it to discover a letter thanking me for participating in the read-a-thon, and how the money raised would help find a cure for Multiple Sclerosis.

It was signed by Bobby Orr.

Parting thoughts
The MS Read-a-thon was a memorable experience for me. Looking back, our teacher didn’t properly prepare us for it. She never really explained what pledges were, so I was totally unprepared. That really had nothing to do with the read-a-thon itself though.

However, it had some lasting effects. I really did like getting that letter of thanks from Bobby Orr, even though it was a form letter – which I realized even then. Still, I got mail which was a big deal for me at that age. It actually still is.

But there has been more.

A few years ago, I went to Stavely Elementary School to cover an assembly they had invited me too. The main reason was two people from the MS Society were there to promote the read-a-thon. I thought it cool that it was still going. More importantly, they did an excellent job of explaining everything. My experience helped me write a better story because I had first-hand experience.

More than anything though, I have met many people in my life affected by MS. The mother of a school roommate of mine has MS. So did the mom of another friend. And the mother of a co-worker in Fort Macleod too. The list goes on.

What I will remember most is that, although the experience of getting that money was stressful for an elementary school kid, in a very small way I contributed to the cause.

That is priceless.