The lofty radiothon fundraising goals of a local Sikh radio station have been shattered thanks to the generosity of its listeners.
On Thursday, to honour the birth of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Reflection Ethnic Diversity (RED) 106.7 FM asked its listening audience to donate to a worthy cause.
“Traditionally, every year the South Asian community gets together and donates to a worthy cause,” explains Michael Pedersen, RED 106.7’s station manager. “What we did was we raised money for the Peter Lougheed Hospital’s new Neonatal Care Units.”
“We hadn’t formally done a fundraiser in Calgary before so we were conservative (in our goal),” explains Pedersen. “We were hoping to raise between $200,000 and $250,000.”
As of Friday afternoon, the station had received $868,900 and donations continue to roll in. RED FM expects donations will be offered through the weekend and into next week.
“The South Asian community, traditionally, is extremely generous, but this far exceeded our expectations,” said Pedersen. “Every time there’s a good, worthy cause, South Asians come out and they are very generous.”
According to station officials, there are nearly 100,000 Calgarians who identify as South Asian and the radio station’s audience is approximately 40,000 people.
The donated money will be provided to the Calgary Health Trust to help fund the Peter Lougheed Centre’s Neonatal Care Units which are scheduled to be completed by 2017.
Due to the sizable donation, the units will be named the Mata Tripta Neonatal Care Units in honour of Guru Nanak’s mother.
