Radiotelevision of Bosnia and Herzegovina – BHRT and the Association Pomozi.ba collected about 950 thousand BAM in funds to help Turkey and Syria after the earthquake.
In the time of bad, negative news, in the time of flood of bad information, it is a great pleasure to do something like this, said Belmin Karamehmedović, Director General of BHRT.
“It is a pleasure today to present the results of the Telethon, an action we did with the aim of collecting aid for the victims of the catastrophic earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. We knew that such actions are usually supported by the wider social community, but to be honest, we did not expect even in the most optimistic predictions the result of this year’s Telethon will be as it is. So thanks to the open phones, the show we made, the campaign that lasted almost a month and the partners from Pomozi.ba and of course a large number of donations (individuals and businesses)we managed to collect over 900 thousand BAM, Karamehmedovic said.
The humanitarian campaign to collect money for earthquake victims lasted from March 1 to March 31, 2023.
After updating the data on the funds collected within the humanitarian campaign, about 192 thousand BAM were collected through phone calls and about 750 thousand through accounts and web portals, which amounts to slightly more than 940 thousand BAM.
Maja Arslanagić Hrbat, PR of the Pomozi.ba Association, pointed out that the part when people’s interest in helping Turkey and Syria dropped a bit after the earthquake was particularly important for the campaign, so that together we managed to animate people again to collect very significant funds.
“Really, all of this exceeded our expectations. The amount is significant in order to help people in Turkey and Syria. I would also refer to the fact that we sent about a hundred aid trucks to Turkey and Syria. This is aid that is coordinated and sent in cooperation with to the humanitarian organizations that are on the ground in those countries. We have acquired about twenty housing containers and we have started building housing units in Syria, which is significant. We will focus on that in the coming period as well. We will use all these financial resources that have arrived and that have arrived just as we receive instructions from local organizations that are on the ground, said Arslanagić.”
As small as Bosnia and Herzegovina is, we have definitely shown that we are true friends to these countries, she concluded.
Benjamin Butković, editor of Special Programs BHT1, spoke about the exact figures that were collected.
“On the basis of 96,010, 192 thousand and 20 BAM were collected, and donors paid 748,725 BAM into the accounts. We were a little short of reaching one million BAM, which was beyond all expectations when we planned this campaign. Once again, I thank the citizens and donors, and the team who prepared and implemented the project in a short period of time. They managed to secure the presence of 130 public figures from Bosnia and Herzegovina in a short time, who, with their authority, answered the phones and participated in the Telethon, helped to collect this amount,” concluded Butković.
Radio and Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina is 16.03. organized an open program in which well-known figures from the public life of Bosnia and Herzegovina responded to the invitations of viewers of the Teleton show.
The live program lasted more than three hours, and was realized with the help of a large team of BHRT from all parts of our country