Riley Radio Days Raises Money For Riley Kids Fund And Riley Hospital For Children
July 16, 2020 at 2:18 a.m.
Riley Radio Days Raises Money For Riley Kids Fund And Riley Hospital For Children
By David [email protected]
The original two-day event was scheduled for March 19-20.
Riley Kids Fund co-founder and co-chair Alan Alderfer said, “We normally do this in March, but we put it off for a couple of months because of the coronavirus. We decided to have it now. The biggest difference is that we won’t have volunteers. We’ll man the phones ourselves.”
Manning the phones will be Alan, co-founder Michael Bergen and WRSW 107.3FM staff.
Many of the Riley families have taped their segments to air today and Friday. Alan said it wasn’t safe to bring the Riley kids and their families into the radio station with the pandemic.
“Everything else is still the same. People can call in to donate or they can text to donate or they can visit the WRSW website to donate,” Alan said.
The phone number is 574-268-4673, and the website is www.1073wrsw.com. The phone lines will be open 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and Friday.
This is the ninth year for Riley Radio Days, but Alan said they don’t set a goal to raise each year.
“We don’t have a clue what to expect,” he said. “We have a record year every year, but we don’t expect that this year. Every dollar we get goes to Riley. Whatever we get, we get.”
When Alan and Bergen started the Riley Kids Fund, their original goal was to raise $100,000 for Riley families. “We raised over $800,000. It’s taken on a life of its own. We are thankful that the community has wanted to support this. We never expected anything like this,” Alan said.
The reason it was started was because Bergen’s son Ben had open-heart surgery when he was young and spent a lot of time down at Riley; and Alan’s daughter Katherine has juvenile dermatomyositis, a form of juvenile myositis, and continues to spend time at Riley.
With their own trips back and forth to Riley in Indianapolis, Alan said they realized how expensive it could get. The Riley Kids Fund helps provide gas and food cards to Riley families so they don’t have to choose between paying a bill or going to Riley.
Katherine Alderfer was one of three Northeast Indiana children announced in September as a 2020 Riley Champion. Though the pandemic has cut her duties and opportunities back as a Riley Champion, she still has gone to a Colts football game, attended big luncheons and done video and social media as a Riley Champion.
“It’s a really big honor because I get to represent a really big cause and I get to represent a hospital that has helped me through a lot,” Katherine said.
She suggested people should donate during Riley Radio Days because kids need to have a good future when they become adults, and to have a good future they need to be healthy and have a good life. “Riley will help them to have better futures,” Katherine said.
Since the pandemic limited her duties as a Riley Champion since March, Katherine will get to be a Riley Champion again next year, along with a few younger kids.
Money raised during Riley Radio Days is held at the Kosciusko County Community Foundation, with half going to Riley for all of the programs it has. The other half remains in the county to help local families.
If a Riley family needs help from the fund, they call the Help Center at the K21 Health Pavilion, which assists with providing the food and gas cards from the fund.
Alan said over 100 families were helped by the Riley Kids Fund last year and believes over 100 are helped every year.
“Riley is there for the sickest of our sick kids,” he said, adding they have a specialist for any condition one can think of.
“If you want to help, call the number. Everything helps, everything adds up and can help these kids,” Alan said, adding a thank you to WRSW 107.3 for supporting Riley Radio Days.
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The original two-day event was scheduled for March 19-20.
Riley Kids Fund co-founder and co-chair Alan Alderfer said, “We normally do this in March, but we put it off for a couple of months because of the coronavirus. We decided to have it now. The biggest difference is that we won’t have volunteers. We’ll man the phones ourselves.”
Manning the phones will be Alan, co-founder Michael Bergen and WRSW 107.3FM staff.
Many of the Riley families have taped their segments to air today and Friday. Alan said it wasn’t safe to bring the Riley kids and their families into the radio station with the pandemic.
“Everything else is still the same. People can call in to donate or they can text to donate or they can visit the WRSW website to donate,” Alan said.
The phone number is 574-268-4673, and the website is www.1073wrsw.com. The phone lines will be open 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and Friday.
This is the ninth year for Riley Radio Days, but Alan said they don’t set a goal to raise each year.
“We don’t have a clue what to expect,” he said. “We have a record year every year, but we don’t expect that this year. Every dollar we get goes to Riley. Whatever we get, we get.”
When Alan and Bergen started the Riley Kids Fund, their original goal was to raise $100,000 for Riley families. “We raised over $800,000. It’s taken on a life of its own. We are thankful that the community has wanted to support this. We never expected anything like this,” Alan said.
The reason it was started was because Bergen’s son Ben had open-heart surgery when he was young and spent a lot of time down at Riley; and Alan’s daughter Katherine has juvenile dermatomyositis, a form of juvenile myositis, and continues to spend time at Riley.
With their own trips back and forth to Riley in Indianapolis, Alan said they realized how expensive it could get. The Riley Kids Fund helps provide gas and food cards to Riley families so they don’t have to choose between paying a bill or going to Riley.
Katherine Alderfer was one of three Northeast Indiana children announced in September as a 2020 Riley Champion. Though the pandemic has cut her duties and opportunities back as a Riley Champion, she still has gone to a Colts football game, attended big luncheons and done video and social media as a Riley Champion.
“It’s a really big honor because I get to represent a really big cause and I get to represent a hospital that has helped me through a lot,” Katherine said.
She suggested people should donate during Riley Radio Days because kids need to have a good future when they become adults, and to have a good future they need to be healthy and have a good life. “Riley will help them to have better futures,” Katherine said.
Since the pandemic limited her duties as a Riley Champion since March, Katherine will get to be a Riley Champion again next year, along with a few younger kids.
Money raised during Riley Radio Days is held at the Kosciusko County Community Foundation, with half going to Riley for all of the programs it has. The other half remains in the county to help local families.
If a Riley family needs help from the fund, they call the Help Center at the K21 Health Pavilion, which assists with providing the food and gas cards from the fund.
Alan said over 100 families were helped by the Riley Kids Fund last year and believes over 100 are helped every year.
“Riley is there for the sickest of our sick kids,” he said, adding they have a specialist for any condition one can think of.
“If you want to help, call the number. Everything helps, everything adds up and can help these kids,” Alan said, adding a thank you to WRSW 107.3 for supporting Riley Radio Days.
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