Change Heroes Needed for WMAS Radiothon for Baystate Children’s Hospital

SPRINGFIELD — Baystate Children’s Hospital and 94.7 WMAS are looking for ‘change heroes’ to help kick off fund-raising efforts in advance of this year’s 15th annual 94.7 WMAS Radiothon, which will be broadcast live from the Children’s Hospital Play Deck on March 3-5.

Change heroes — individuals, families, schools, businesses or community groups — can make a difference by raising funds in two ways: collecting spare coins and dollar bills or checks from others, or creating an online virtual bank and soliciting credit-card donations through a personal or team fund-raising page. Registration details are available at www.baystatehealth.org/radiothon.

Individual change heroes who raise $100 will have their name placed into a drawing to win a prize. In addition, Pioneer Valley Credit Union (PVCU) is again hosting the Change Hero School Challenge, in which the top-fund-raising Western Mass. school will win $1,000 from PVCU and a celebration with the 94.7 WMAS Kellogg Krew. To qualify, individual and school change heroes must have all online fund-raising received by Thursday, March 31, and also submit any collected offline funds (if applicable) by March 31 to the Change Heroes Program, Baystate Health Foundation, 280 Chestnut St., 6th Floor, Springfield, MA 01199.

Last year’s winner was St. Thomas the Apostle School in West Springfield, which raised $3,024.84. “The journey we are taking with Baystate Children’s Hospital is exactly what we want to be doing — reaching out to those in need and trying to bring them comfort. We are completely onboard to help the kids at Baystate once again this year,” said Sr. Patricia Hottin, the school’s principal. “We used the money awarded to us to do something we have never done before at our school, and that is to set up a world-language learning lab. It’s all done online for students in grades 4-8. They are learning a new language, Spanish, and it is amazing to watch. We are so delighted, and it’s just been wonderful for us.”

Dollars raised through by change heroes set the pace for fund-raising during the actual 94.7 WMAS Radiothon on March 3-5.

WMAS has been a longtime supporter of Baystate Children’s Hospital and Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. “The community is fortunate to have a one-of-a-kind resource such as Baystate Children’s Hospital close to home when a child needs medical care,” said Craig Swimm, general manager, WMAS Radio.

For more information on the Radiothon, visit www.baystatehealth.org/radiothon or call (413) 794-1486.