In the Ipswich area over the last couple of weeks, River 94.9 has seen two family’s lives completely changed due to horrific accidents.
When Gatton couple Jake and Mikaela witnessed a car crash on Gatton-Helidon Road at Lower Tenthill, their first instinct was to pull over and help, but little did they know the good deed would land Mikaela in hospital, fighting to save both her pregnancy and her legs.
The other local family doing it tough is the Boekel family from the Scenic Rim.
On 14 May, Gav’s life changed forever, having left his wife and five kids (18, 17, 12, 9 and 4) in the morning only to be flown out later that day in a helicopter with doctors fighting to save his life after he was trapped for over three hours in an auger machine.
One leg was severed below the knee and the other crushed and Gav broke his back in seven places and cracked his pelvis.
River 94.9 FM wanted to put the call out to see if the community could help and the response was incredible.
Yesterday morning, Marnie & Campo for Breakfast broadcast live from Sprenger’s Rural Traders in Haigslea with the Marburg Rural Fire Brigade on site cooking up a Schulte’s BBQ so people could make any donation to them to receive breakfast.
And it wasn’t just small change being handed over, there were large notes coming out of wallets.
Alby from CaCOFFEEny was onsite to keep people warm with hot drinks, as the wind made for a very cool morning, and then kindly donated the proceeds taken yesterday.
Chelle, Gav’s wife was able to attend yesterday as she wanted to personally thank everyone and says “I’m blown away at the kindness of the Australian people. We are so blessed and thankful.”
Jake couldn’t leave Mikaela’s side to attend however his father Eric and partner Anita were able to attend to also say thank you.
Jake text on the morning to say “Thank you guys so much. What you’re doing is beautiful, we have been listening all morning.”.
River 94.9 received $4,170 in cash donations across the 4-hour period along with online donations to the Go Fund Me page while the stations announcers continued to put the call out throughout the day.
At 9am today, Wednesday 5 June, the combination of cash donations and donations through the dedicated Go Fund Me page for Gav and Mikaela is sitting at $10,125, meaning in just over 24-hours, $5,000 has been raised for each family.
River 94.9’s Promotions Manager, Rachael O’Kane-Edney says “The number of people that have donated is unbelievable. Every donation, from small to large, will go a long way with helping Gav and Mikaela recover. The power of radio has once again been proven. The community’s generosity was overwhelming and we are beyond thankful.”.
