We’re delighted to announce that we have raised €214,000 for our 2017 chosen charity. The funds raised will prevent over 5,000 people from living a life of blindness as Sightsavers provide them with sight-restoring operations.
The 2017 fundraising figure brings to almost €1.5 million, the amount of funds we have helped raise for charities since its inception in 2008. Previous charity partners have included ISPCC, Barnardos, Simon, Age Action, Aware, Make-A-Wish Ireland and Focus Ireland.
Garvan Rigby, co-founder of Christmas FM, says: “We are delighted with the success of this year’s fundraising campaign and would like to thank everyone who helped to make this possible – we are absolutely thrilled with the figure raised and are delighted to have reached our milestone target of €200,000! We would like to thank all our loyal listeners for tuning in and donating so generously to this year’s chosen charity, Sightsavers. We would also like to thank this year’s premier FM sponsors Cadbury and Dunnes Stores, and the Ballsbridge Hotel who once again provided us with a home for our radio studio, and of course all the volunteers involved in the day to day running of the station.”
Ciara Smullen, Head of Major Giving at Sightsavers Ireland, says: “What an experience being involved with Christmas FM has been and what a pleasure it has been to have the support of the nation throughout the Christmas season. We are overjoyed that we have reached our fundraising target of €200,000 and want to thank each and every one of the Christmas FM listeners who supported us in helping provide over 5,000 people with sight-restoring operations. Christmas FM listeners, rare changing the lives of thousands of people by giving the gift of sight.”
The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) grants us our annual 30-day temporary sound broadcasting license which enables us to broadcast on a range of frequencies throughout the country.
According to the BAI’s Chief Executive, Michael O’Keeffe: “On behalf of the BAI, I would like to congratulate the team at Christmas FM and its listeners for another fantastic fundraising result. The fact that the station raised more than €200,000 for Sightsavers over a 30-day period is testament to Ireland’s love of radio and its ability to connect with people across the country, as well as to the generosity of the Irish people.”
Christmas FM is funded through sponsorship and run each year by more than 100 volunteers on-air, who devote hundreds of hours of their time.
This year, Christmas FM was once again generously sponsored by the premier FM sponsor Cadbury and for the first time, Dunnes Stores. For the fifth year, Christmas FM was broadcast from the Ballsbridge Hotel, Dublin who kindly gave the space for free.
