Sept. 1, 2005
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Normal, Ill. -
A day-long effort by Radio Bloomington to raise funds to help Hurricane Katrina victims will continue through Thursday's Sharon Dingman Show, which will be broadcast live from Cheek's Bar and Grill from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. All of the proceeds will be forwarded to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.
As of noon Thursday, the four-hour-old effort had raised more than $22,000 as the four-station consortium of WJBC-AM, WBNQ-FM, B104 and Thunder 93.7 hosted volunteers collecting at the Schnuck's store on Veteran's Parkway in Bloomington. That location will end collections for the day at 7 p.m.
Dingman encourages Redbird fans and all of Central Illinois to get behind the Radio Bloomington effort.
"Redbird volleyball has enjoyed such terrific support from the community over the years," said Dingman, whose Redbirds play host to the Barker GMC Classic Friday and Saturday at Redbird Arena. "But this is an opportunity for the community to get behind something much bigger than sports. We encourage everyone to contribute, to help people who have been devastated by this disaster to rebuild their lives."
R.C. McBride, program director at WJBC-AM and the radio voice of Redbird volleyball, says this project is similar to one the stations successfully conducted after the 911 tragedies in 2001. That effort raised $800,000 in four days from people driving by the collection point. As in 2001, this project includes Illinois State student-athletes volunteering at the Schnuck's store.
"Everyone wanted to do something and it was decided that the 911 effort earned such a wonderful response that we would take the same approach," said McBride. "The Bloomington-Normal community responded in 2001 and we hope to see that same kind of response now."
