From 06:00 in the morning, viewers and listeners could turn on for a series of live broadcasts around Ukraine. During the day, the collaboration between various radio stations was central, which simultaneously provided a 15-hour broadcast under the name Radio555. For example, former colleagues Mattie Valk and Wietze de Jager put their years of quarrel aside for a new broadcast. In the evenings, television channels also joined forces. Davina Michelle opened with a song she wrote for the refugees. Rob Kemps and Chantal Janzen then presented a full evening program, with Eva Jinek and Jeroen Pauw as talk show hosts.
Connectedness
“There is an incredible sense of connection here”, Patrick Martens remarked in the morning coffee time already on from Hilversum. Words that would be repeated many times. During the day people from all over the world tumbled over each other to show support for the Ukrainians. In addition to the many requests for records like Where’s the love and heal the world, which were always accompanied by a donation, Dutch celebrities also seized the opportunity en masse to show that they are committed to the war refugees. Sometimes in a cuttingly urgent way (Eva Jinek shared a photo of a murdered family), sometimes lightly (Wendy van Dijk went out with children to collect empty bottles).
As usual, a large national campaign always turns out to be an opportunity for entrepreneurs to show their best side. Robèrt van Beckhoven sold special pastries and Victoria Koblenko designed a peace necklace. There was a tattoo parlor that came at night to tell about the peace doves they had tattooed and raised money with. On the radio, the offensive of goodness also held firm. Even during the commercial breaks, where companies found handy hooks not to be left out. Think of a mattress manufacturer that promised soft beds to refugees and a book chain that announced that it wanted to close the war chapter again quickly.
With action number 48 in a span of 38 years, the Cooperating Aid Organizations already have a nice history of donations behind them. That has not always been a success. In 2013, for example, the amount for victims in Syria was just under 5000 euros, while later that year more than 36 million was raised as a result of the destruction of typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. Large-scale natural disasters seem to bring out the most generosity in people anyway. The infamous 2004 tsunami (208 million) and the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010 (111 million) brought in by far the highest yields ever.
Urgent
The fact that the horrors in Ukraine have been in the news a lot in recent weeks will undoubtedly have contributed to the total yield. The more urgent a disaster, the higher the yield. Giro555, which previously also worked for aid to Rwanda and Kosovo, has never raised so much money before a war as it does now.
During the round that Britt Dekker did among celebrities who answered the phone in the studio to accept donations, the presenter gave a hard sneer. “Good for Sywert: 9 million on Giro555.” PvdA party leader Lilianne Ploumen who sat opposite her behind a telephone: “That’s how it is.”
On social media, a completely different reality sometimes seemed to play out while the heartbreaking stories on TV passed by. Under the hashtag #giro555, it was not always about Ukraine. Money would be better spent on urgent matters in our own country, it sometimes sounded. There were also comments about the lack of the same commitment to other refugees or, for example, the Dutch interpreters in Afghanistan. But the masses really went for the togetherness. Tineke Ceelen, director of the Refugee Foundation, and presenter Chantal Janzen were visibly surprised at the end of the evening by the gigantic amount that had been raised. “Wonderful,” cried Janzen. Because whether one or a thousand euros was donated: every little bit helps. That message reverberated in every broadcast of the campaign today.