Markathon is a radio marathon fundraiser benefiting the Center for Grieving Children. The 7th Annual Markathon on WCYY is going live starting Monday, December 1st at noon, until Friday, December 5th at 6pm.
Here’s what you should do:
- DONATE any amount by phone(207) 792-9299 or online and request ANY song of ANY genre to be played on the air
- TUNE IN and hear everyone else’s requests, which means five days of the most diverse musical lineup on the airwaves
- SPREAD THE WORD and help raise money and awareness for the Center for Grieving Children in Maine
Markathon is a live, on-air telethon hosted entirely by WCYY’s Mark Curdo to benefit the Center for Grieving Children, serving families and the community in Portland, Sanford, and throughout southern Maine.
DONATE
All week listeners are asked to call in (207) 792-9299 or go online to wcyy.com to make a donation. In return, Curdo will play your song of choice—any song! Any style of music, any artist, loud or not loud (curse-free of course).
TUNE IN
From noon on Monday, December 1st until 6 pm Friday, December 5th, the airwaves from WCYY are jamming with every style of music you can imagine.
“Anything’s a go,” explains Mark Curdo. “From heavy metal to gospel, grunge to disco, show tunes and cartoons; you’ ll hear everything and anything during the week of Markathon!” Mark loves all kinds of music, and this week gives him a chance to play Stevie Wonder AND Iron Maiden AND the theme to Three’s Company.
SPREAD THE WORD
The real goodness of Markathon is that for almost five days/24-hours-a-day all this fundraising and awareness-building goes to support the mission of the Center for Grieving Children (CGC) in Maine. The CGC provides loving support that encourages the safe expression of grief and loss and fosters each individual’s resilience and emotional well-being. With families, facilitators, volunteers and some popular friends stopping by all week, this station truly rocks around the clock.
“I average three hours of sleep each night,” says Mark, who sleeps on the floor in the studio, without a mattress. “It’s tough to sleep with all this amazing music happening and people giving so much to the Center. I’ve had $500 donations come in at 2 am. How can you sleep with great things like that happening? Listeners stay with Markathon ALL week. It’s unreal. I was given a new mattress one year by a local company but I knew if I used it, I’d never get back up. So the floor it is, every year. It’s provides just enough comfort.”
“This is a unique event for the Center, and we are deeply grateful to everyone at WCYY as well as all the Markathon sponsors and every listener who calls and contributes,” said Anne Lynch, executive director of the Center for Grieving Children.
In the past six years, listeners from all over New England out to New York, California, Florida and even Canada, England, Ireland and Spain have donated over $180,000.
The Center for Grieving Children, with service sites in Portland and Sanford, Maine, serves more than 4,000 grieving children, teens, families, and young adults annually through peer support, outreach, and education. Offering our services at no charge, for as long as people need them, the Center’s mission is to provide loving support that encourages the safe expression of grief and loss and fosters each individual’s resilience and emotional well-being. The Center reaches individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds, and relies on financial contributions from individuals, businesses, foundations, United Way, and special events. For more information, call (207) 775-5216 or visit www.cgcmaine.org.
