It’s the Holiday Season and people are calculating what they can afford to spend on gifts for others. During this Holiday Season many people are dealing with the reality of inflation. Yet, with gift-buying and inflation on the minds of many, the annual “Light Up The Season Radiothon” at Manning Family Children’s was an overwhelming success!
Against financial realities that make spending money on anything a big decision, the WWL listeners stepped up and to a meaningful cause. Manning Family Children’s, formerly Children’s Hospital, is a highly acclaimed free standing hospital for children in need of critical medical care in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf South.
Most impressive is that Manning Family Children’s never turns down a child in need of medical care even if the family cannot afford to pay for the care and the donations help cover the costs of caring for the children from families that cannot afford to pay for the care. It is easy to conjure up the feelings any parent would have if their child were in need of crucial care, but could not afford to pay for it.
The entire WWL on-air team were at Manning Family Children’s broadcasting live from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm asking their listeners to donate whatever they can to the hospital. ALL of the money donated by our listeners will stay at Manning Family Children’s and will help fund many aspects of providing care - often life-saving care - to children in need.
During the broadcast, I talked to those listeners who had no relationship with the hospital and said if you have “no relationship with Manning Family Children’s you should be the ones who are giving because that means you have healthy children.” I also pointed out that “the parents with children at the hospital never thought they would need the hospital and you never know if you are going to need their exceptional care for your children - so you are giving to a hospital that will be better for your donation in the event you need it.”
While doing the radiothom broadcast I saw Phillip Wang, bass player for The Molly Ringwalds, walking his son in a wheelchair with his wife, Nicole. I had them join me on the air. Their son had just had back surgery and the randomness of seeing them was a reminder that anyone can need Manning Family Children’s at any time.
During our part of the radiothon there were donations of all sizes and many that were for $500, $200, and $100 and even the donations less than that were appreciated. But there were two donations that really reflected the innate generosity of the audience. One donation was for the odd sum of $12.63. Ian Hoch, my executive producer who was on location with me, asked why such a strange amount. Within a few minutes the person who donated $12.63 texted in to explain. The donor was a loyal listener to our show and an occasional caller, James from the North Shore. James said that the amount of $12.63 was all he had in his bank account. The amount wasn’t a lot compared to most of the donations we received, but the fact that James was willing to give everything he had in his account said volumes about the size of James’ heart.
For the 3rd year in a row, another loyal listener showed up at Manning Family Children's to make another mind-blowing donation and again this year the man did not want his name or his company’s name mentioned on the air - he wanted his donation to be made completely anonymous. We honored his request. It says a lot about someone who is willing to give a large amount and not want his name associated with the donation. In the closing 2 minutes of our part of the radiothon, which beat last year’s amazing totals, we announced that the listener who wanted to be described only as a “loyal listener from down the road” had just given us a check for $20,000!
Thanks to all of the WWL listeners who gave to Manning Family Children’s during our broadcast yesterday and a special thanks to James, who gave us all that he had in his bank account and the “loyal listener from down the road” who wanted no publicity for his $20,000 donation.
The “Light Up The Season” Radiothon was presented by The Ray and Jessica Brandt Family Foundation and Kia of Covington sponsored the gong we hit every time there was a donation of $500 or more - and there were many. And thanks to one of my clients, Roger, who matched every donation up to $1,000 in the 2:00 hour from Perfume Headquarters and Logo Express.
When you constantly hear about bad people in the news and when you encounter bad people in everyday life, remember that there are more good people in this world than bad people - and we saw that first-hand from all of the donors during our annual radiothon at Manning Family Children’s.