Radio NL listeners, stepping up in a big way, set a record during Thursday’s seventh annual Radiothon for the Royal Inland Hospital Foundation.

Despite the pandemic, the final tally was a whopping $236,895, the most ever raised for the event.

Speaking on the NL Morning News, CEO of the Royal Inland Hospital Foundation Heidi Coleman talked about just how important RIH is to the Kamloops area.

“We’re all connected to that building on the hill. So it makes sense that the response was so strong and I so appreciate everybody. It was so wonderful to have so many conversations with donors on the phone, some beautiful stories that I wrote down as I spoke to everybody.”

Coleman isn’t surprised though, saying the sense of community in Kamloops isn’t something you feel in larger centres.

“When you come from a big city, like the ambulance goes by and you just get out of the way so it’s doesn’t hit you. Here, we know where the ambulance is going. If we read a story in the paper, we hear it on the radio, a friend tells us what’s going on, we know where that ambulance is going.”

The money raised in yesterday’s Radiothon will go towards purchasing much needed critical equipment for the Royal Inland Hospital’s new patient care tower.

Over seven years, the telethon hosted by Radio NL has raised more than $1 million.