4GY aids Bali victim’s family

Mark Hogan, Afternoon Announcer at
4GY Gympie told radioinfo about help given to one of the Bali victim’s famililes this week.

“On Tuesday, just after 2pm I received a call from 4GY Manager, Glen Elmes that a local 19 y.o. from Tewantin was severely injured in the terrorist blast at Bali. He had been airlifted to Perth Hospital.

His family lives in Tewantin / Noosa and could not afford to fly to Perth to be with him.

Our local Federal Member Alex Somlyay had arranged for a discounted airfare for the twin brother and his sister but the family could not afford even the $1,800 that was needed to get there.

I started putting a call for help over air straight away, asking for listeners to come to the station and donate money for the brother and sister to fly to Perth to be with their brother. I also pointed out that we could not take phone pledges as this was urgent and we wanted to get them on a plane asap.

We raised over $2,200 in less than two hours by listeners coming into the station and donating over the counter, the traffic jam out front was a sight to see.

An hour later, the brother and sister were on the plane to Perth.

It was an incredible experience and shows:

The power of radio and

The generosity of our listeners.”