Jamie’s Dream Team: Radiothon will kick off four days of fundraising

By Christine Haines

chaines@yourrmvi.com

Over the past 15 years, Jamie’s Dream Team has granted more than 10,000 dreams for children and adults in 32 states, and founder Jamie Holmes isn’t letting COVID-19 restrictions limit the efforts this year.

Four days of concentrated fundraising activities are planned for the Dream Team’s Compassion to Action event, starting with a radiothon all day Oct. 22, followed by three days of socially distanced activities at the nonprofit organization’s office in McKeesport.

Holmes said the radiothon with 100.7 FM is a chance to share how donations to the organization change lives.

“Families will tell their stories,” Holmes said. “And volunteers and donors will say how they’ve been impacted. Just because COVID is here doesn’t mean cancer and all these other diseases have stopped. It’s even harder on the families.”

Holmes said one 38-year-old veteran who was part of a 9/11 search and rescue team now has cancer and was scheduled for surgery before the pandemic hit. The surgery was canceled because of COVID-19 restrictions on elective surgery. Jamie’s Dream Team is granting him a wish, flying him to Las Vegas next week so he can see the Grand Canyon. This week, he’s volunteering to help the Dream Team.

“We’re selling a ticket to win $10,000, a pull-behind mini-trailer and a quad,” Holmes said. “He’s spending his last days running around selling those tickets for me. He said ‘You’re helping me, so I want to help you.’” 

In conjunction with the radiothon, activities will take place all four days, Oct. 22-25, at the Jamie’s Dream Team office at 4617 Walnut St., McKeesport.

“We’re going to have some Disney characters there for the kids and some raffles and we’ll have a screen set up showing some of the dreams we have done,” Holmes said.

The organization will sell luminaries with extra candles so people can put them out all four nights of the campaign to show their support for Jamie’s Dream Team.

“We’re hoping to do this every year. This is the first year for this,” Holmes said

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