Charities to take a hit as Cork Giving for Living Radiothon cancelled

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced the cancellation of one of the biggest annual fundraisers for cancer support groups and charities in Cork.

Cork's 96FM & C103 confirmed this morning that its 13th Giving for Living Radiothon, which was planned to take place at the end of May, has been cancelled.

The Wireless-owned radio station said the decision was based solely on the rapidly evolving public health crisis due to the spread of the coronavirus.

The radiothon has raised over €5.1m over the last 12-years with proceeds being distributed each year between five local charity partners - the Mercy Hospital Foundation; the CUH Charity; Marymount Hospice; Cork ARC Cancer Support House and Breakthrough Cancer Research.

The groups rely heavily on the money raised by the event.

Last year's event alone raised €440,451 thanks to the generosity of listeners, who stage fundraisers and make donations and pledges live on air across the Giving for Living weekend.

Kieran McGeary, the group station director of Cork’s 96FM & C103, said they made the decision to cancel reluctantly but there was no other option.

"A massive part of the fundraising effort each year is group coffee mornings. These clearly aren’t possible at the moment," he said.

"Equally, it would be irresponsible for us to ask our presenters to go out to interview people on their cancer journeys whose immune systems are severely at risk.”

“We are very conscious that this decision will impact the charities greatly, and I would urge the many people who donate to Radiothon via monthly direct debit to continue to do so in order to help our charity partners during this challenging time.

"We would like to acknowledge the huge effort from each charity partner and the Cork’s 96FM team who have worked tirelessly towards the planning of Radiothon 2020 since last year."

He also acknowledged the people of Cork who have supported the fundraiser for the past 12 years.

"We will now begin to focus our planning on holding the 13th event in May 2021,” he said.