Technology is evolving, and so is its purpose. Charities are now able to increase their fund raising efforts from telethons to tweet-a-thons.

Australian celebrities including beauty queen and model Jennifer Hawkins are backing Telethon Thursday for its first trial at Tweet-A-Thon. The charity organization hopes to raise $20,000 from its campaign with BankWest.

BankWest will donate $1 for every Twitter user who tweets or retweets #tweetforkids before 6pm Thursday night. The financial institution will also give $1 for every tweet or retweet mentions of @Telethon7 or @Bankwest.

Retweeting is essential in this campaign because BankWest will only donate $1 per account, whether it made a tweet or retweet. The more twitter folks get involved, the better.

Johnny Ruffo, Melissa Doyle, Wil Anderson and Aurelio Costarella are some of the celebrities who have so far participated in the Tweet-A-Thon along with Hawkins, PerthNow reported.

Celebrities who typically have followers reaching tens and hundreds of thousands in number are expected to bring in more donation for Telethon's Tweet-A-Thon campaign.

The hashtag(#) for the campaign (#tweetforkids) is expected to be a trending topic among users from Australia.

Telethon was established in 1968 to fund charitable organizations, children's hospitals and research facilities in Western Australia. It has so far raised over $117 million in funds for charitable causes.

Below are some of the tweets that have been shouted out on Twitter in relation to the Tweet-A-Thon campaign.

@katie_robertson: Telethon tweet-a-thon, get behind it @Telethon7 @Bankwest #tweetforkids

@MarkBeretta: Retweet this and @bankwest will donate $1 to @telethon7! Great idea and great cause, so #tweetforkids!! Thanks #bankwest.

@MeganKGale: Ok guys.. @Bankwest is generously donating a dollar for each tweet & RT they receive.Get on it people! #greatcause #tweetforkids

‏@RhiannonMFish: Please RT! @BankWest gives $1 to @Telethon7 for every single tweet that says: #tweetforkids.

@iiNet: If you tweet one tweet today, make sure it includes @Bankwest @telethon7 and #tweetforkids - $1 donation for every tweet today! 

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