Radio stations across Alberta will come together this Wednesday for the Alberta Day Of Caring for Jasper.
Raising funds for the Canadian Red Cross to support those impacted by last week’s Jasper wildfire, including evacuees and other communities hosting and helping with recovery efforts, the effort sees radio stations partner with the Alberta Bottle Depot Association, aiming to ignite the largest bottle drive in provincial history.
Albertans are encouraged to donate their empty cans and bottles on Wednesday to any Alberta Bottle Depot, and simply say that “These are for Jasper.” They’ll be counted at the local bottle depot, with the refund amounts donated directly to the Alberta Day of Caring for Jasper. Alternately, monetary donations can be made via albertadayofcaring.com. Listeners can also text the word RADIO (all caps) to 20222, to make a $10 donation.
Donations will be matched twice – once by the Government of Alberta, with a second match from the federal government. That means every $1 donated will become $3 to support those affected by the wildfires.
The idea for the fundraising effort came out of Pattison Media’s stations in Edmonton where Jay Stone, the station manager and program director for 102.3 NOW! Radio (CKNO-FM) and up! 99.3 (CIUP-FM), says his team initially planned to host its own bottle drive.
“As we began digging deeper on how we could make this work as easy as possible for our audience, we learned that we could engage all bottle depots across the province to accept donations,” Stone told Broadcast Dialogue. “It was at that point we realized that this could not only be a local initiative, or even a Pattison initiative, this could be a province-wide idea, one that all radio companies could participate in. We had a call just hours later with nearly all Alberta broadcasters, and everyone agreed that this is a cause bigger than any of us individually, and everyone was in. It immediately became a combined effort with all radio companies in Alberta.”
“Together, we are looking to do what radio has always done best; engage our local communities to help make a difference for those in need,” said Stone. “We aim to bring our entire province together to genuinely help rebuild and support the families of those affected by this wildfire, and fires around the province. So many of us all have fond memories of Jasper, and now it’s our turn to give back to the place that has given us all so much.”
Subscribe Now – Free!
Broadcast Dialogue has been required reading in the Canadian broadcast media for 30 years. When you subscribe, you join a community of connected professionals from media and broadcast related sectors from across the country.
The Weekly Briefing from Broadcast Dialogue is delivered exclusively to subscribers by email every Thursday. It’s your link to critical industry news, timely people moves, and excellent career advancement opportunities.
Let’s get started right now.
