Topic: Community-Focused Initiatives
Dispatch Broadcasting’s WTHR-TV Indianapolis, Ind. held a 13-hour donation drive to raise money for Indianapolis’ new September 11 Memorial. The memorial, which features two 22-foot steel beams from the World Trade Center site, was ready for its debut; however, the project’s organizers did not have enough money to pay the construction costs and maintenance fees. On the Friday before the unveiling, they were at least $30,000 short.
In response, WTHR-TV held a donation drive in the station’s parking lot from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, September 9. WTHR-TV’s anchors shot live cut-ins from the lot at the top of each hour, as station staff from every department took shifts collecting donations throughout the day. When the drive concluded, WTHR-TV had raised nearly $39,000 in 13 hours, filling the gap in needed funding for the memorial.
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