"Give for a day, help for a lifetime'' as they continue to do their part in fighting Bermuda's drug problems.

Last year at their second annual telethon the council partners raised more than $160,000, which doubled the money raised in their inaugural effort in 1999.

Now, at next Monday's third telethon, which will air on VSB starting at 7.30 p.m., the Council Partners aim to surpass last year's effort. The Council Partners are charged with the responsibility of raising and allocating funds to support quality substance abuse and prevention programmes locally.

The charity was founded on March 1, 1996 and is a Bermuda registered charity which raises funds for four worthy charities, Focus, CADA, Fair Havens and PRIDE.

"We started planning this one eight, nine months ago and as you can imagine there is a lot of work involved,'' said Sheila Nicoll, chairperson of the telethon, which will run for about four hours.

"Our goal is to reach the whole community. When research is done typically the drug and alcohol problems in Bermuda rate as people's number one concern.

"We want to reach everybody and invite them to be a part of the solution.

Help us fund and support these wonderful four agencies that we support and help them continue their work.

"We raised $160,000 last year so our goal is to do better. The first year we raised $70,000, so we were thrilled to more than double that. It was very exciting last year.'' In keeping with their commitment to the agency partners, all the funds went directly into quality substance abuse prevention and treatment solutions.

VSB news anchor Charmaine Burgess, who worked behind the scenes last year, will be in front of the camera as Austin Warner's co-host of the telethon.

Judith Burgess, executive director of PRIDE, was Mr. Warner's co-host last year.

Two other key figures of the seven-member committee for the telethon are Council Partners Director Gordon Johnson and Mrs. Nicoll.

Mr Warner, who began experimenting with drugs at age ten in New York where he grew up, has been drug-free for 31 years and now he is giving back as director of development-community for the Council Partners as well as hosting a weekly talk show on VSB radio.

Mr. Warner has been working tirelessly in the weeks leading up to the Telethon. Last week he spoke at a luncheon at Appleby Spurling and Kempe and also visited Centre Re and Kitson and Company, and on Friday was at Belco.

"This week we will do a volunteer rally because we'll need volunteers for the night, people to man the phones,'' said Mrs. Nicoll.

"We are scheduled to start at 7.30 p.m. and (last year) were still going strong at 11.00 p.m.. The phones were still ringing so VSB kindly kept it going until Midnight for us. It would be great if that happens again.'' Mrs. Nicoll says community involvement does make a difference. She spoke of an inspirational article on recovering heroin addict Stacy Weeks in this month's RG Magazine that touched her.

"That's a powerful story, a focus graduate, and people can see that if they do contribute their dollar makes a difference,'' said Mrs. Nicoll.

"Her (Mrs. Weeks') life has changed and she is a productive member of this community because of the time and money people gave to help run FOCUS. I would defy anybody in this community to say their life has not been touched in some way by drug or alcohol abuse, whether directly or whether one of your colleagues at work or even your house has been broken into.

"Even people driving drunk on the road, it affects all of us and we need to be part of the solution.'' Mrs. Nicoll served as a volunteer in the first telethon, but is now serving as chairperson for the second year.

"A gentleman who was governor of the Council Partners, Tom Kelsey, called me up and asked if I would help do some fundraising,'' Mrs. Nicoll said, explaining how she became involved.

"He's a great person and the sort of person you can't so no to, so I helped to do a bit of fundraising. I feel strongly about the issue, like the people and we have a lot of fun doing what we do.'' The Council Partners fund-raising efforts are helped by the generous support of local companies.

"AAC sponsored the posters for us, Butterfield and Vallis have sponsored the advertising that we've been doing in the Royal Gazette ,'' said Mrs. Nicoll.

"Dunkley's Dairy, for the third year in a row, have very kindly sponsored our t-shirts. And Twins Variety sponsored our donation envelopes.

"That's a critical piece of making the whole thing successful, being able to get sponsorship for things like that. People think about the big international companies but it's also the smaller ones.'' As well as having entertainment from many local musicians, the Council Partners also plan to honour a couple of donors during the telethon.

"There are some very generous people in this community and we think it's important to honour some of those people,'' Mrs. Nicoll said.

"It'll be a surprise who we honour but we would like to honour a couple of people who have been very supportive of Council Partners over the years.'' There are also some added perks for those calling in pledges, with American Airlines giving away two tickets in a draw one for anybody who has pledged before the night and the other for anybody who has pledged and honoured their pledge.

XL are giving away seven sets of two tickets for the XL Tennis Tournament next month while Astwood Dickinson has donated a piece of jewellry.

"Last year well over 90 percent of people honoured their pledges,'' said the chairperson.

"The highest single gift was for $2,500 from a couple of individuals in memory of Max Roberts who did a lot of work in drug prevention. Our average donation was $108.'' And calls came in from persons from all ages, some just giving what they could afford.

"We had kids call on the night and donate their allowance, so we had $5 gifts from kids which was special,'' Mrs. Nicoll revealed.

As a mother herself she was pleased to see young people getting involved in the cause.

"We did exceed expectations last year, it felt like riding a wave. Austin said for days after people came up to him on the street and either said `well done, great event' or a lot of people gave him money.

"In fact last year when we shut down at Midnight and did the press release the next day, we said we raised $143,000 but we actually ended up with about $160,000 after companies matched their employees.

"It felt like the community was with us, people wanting to be a part of it.

It feels good to be a part of something positive.'' To find out more about the Council Partners call the Telethon Hotline at 296-3130 or visit the trust website www.councilpartners.bm.

In Lifestyle on Friday: Recovering addict Austin Warner speaks about his addiction and his commitment to helping others.