British Forces radio raises funds for the blind

This week, the British Forces Broadcasting Service, B.F.B.S., is asking their listeners to help them help the blind, both in Belize and in the United Kingdom. Announcers at the station and wives of British Army Training Support Unit Belize, BATSUB, held a radiothon to raise funds for the British Charity Wireless for the Blind. The charity provides free radios to anyone who is legally blind in Great Britain. A portion of the proceeds, this year twenty percent, is also given to the Belize Council for the visually impaired. News Five visited the station at Airport Camp in Ladyville to see how the drive was going.

Col. David Leigh, Commander, BATSUB

“Today is the third day in a week of charity raising for a charity called Wireless for the Blind. It is run by the British Forces Broadcasting Service which supports us here in our organization entertaining the troops, keeping us informed of what’s going on around the rest of the world. The B.F.B.S. charity Wireless for the Blind is their big thing for the year. All the troops training here in Belize are supporting the charity of the week.”

Richard Hutchinson, Station Manager, B.F.B.S.

“While we’ve been on the air the phones ring almost non stop. Every time we mention an auction item people from the British Community and also the British Forces based on the British Army Support Unit Belize are constantly on the telephone and that helps every year to raise it to a really good sum of money for the two charities we support.

It gets everyone in the community involved and it’s the one time of the year when we open up the doors and people come and see what we do. And the wives who man the phones give up their time free of charge. And at the end of the day we have a lot of fun raising a lot of money for a really good cause.”

Last year B.F.B.S. raised twenty thousand dollars and they hope to meet or exceed that this year. You can find B.F.B.S. at ninety-nine point one on your FM dial. Their signal originates in Ladyville but can be caught in Belize City. In an update, B.F.B.S. informs us that just before six this evening they had raised seventeen thousand five hundred dollars. They will be on air for several more hours and have additional fundraising events planned for next week.