It was an exciting day that began at 6:00 a.m as the 5th annual Light the Way Radiothon in support of the Saugeen Memorial Hospital Foundation got underway at 98theBeach radio station in Port Elgin (Saugeen Shores).
Little did anyone know that the day would become a fundraising miracle as, up until the last minute of 6:00 p.m., the phones for donations were still ringing.
Then, like ‘Old Faithful’, previous host announcer John Divinski (JD) turned up to take his turn at the familiar mic for an hour and a half.
Tracy Murray, Executive Director of the Foundation, gave an emotional wrap-up of the day. “This is a small town with a big heart and I am completely overwhelmed. The community has raised an incredible $177,545 with donations still coming in.”
Light the Way Honourary Chair, Raj Verma of Kinectrics, said, “When the campaign first started, we had no way of knowing it would reach this amount. This is an incredible community.”
While some chose to visit 98theBeach radio station and donate in person from outside, most donated by telephone this year due to COVID-19. While there were several large corporate donations, individual givings this year appeared to far exceeded past years. “I think, perhaps, many people could not take winter vacations this year,” said announcer Brian Longmire, “and so they decided to donate their ‘holiday’ money to the radiothon for the hospital.”
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In the sound booth, guests were asked to talk on air about their donations or company donations and why they were made – all around, it was thumbs up for hospital support!
Ontario Power Generation (OPG) donated $15,000 as part of its commitment of $60,000 to three area hospital foundation, including Saugeen Memorial .
Bruce Power also came forward with a donation of $50,000. In the past, Bruce Power hosted the Gran Fondo major fundraising cycling event which had to be cancelled this year (2020) due to COVID-19.
