MaineBusiness.com

At Noon on Monday November 30th, WCYY will turn its format upside down and inside out once again for the good of the Center for Grieving Children.

“Markathon” was a successful on air benefit carried out early December of 2008 by Mark Curdo, disc jockey for Portland, Maine's 94.3 WCYY. The idea, simple and fun: listeners can request anything they want, anything (in compliance with FCC guidelines of course) and Mark will play it for a donation to the Center for Grieving Children based in Portland, Maine.

On the air for over 75 straight hours, stationed in the CYY studio around the clock with only 5 hours of sleep, Curdo through CYY's airwaves raised well over $10,000 for the CGC in just three and a half days. From Lionel Richie to Buddy Holly; from the Bee Gee's to Kermit the Frog to Iron Maiden, WCYY never sounded as crazy with their music, thanks to the listener's and their amazing donations.

The Center for Grieving Children was founded in 1987 by Bill Hemmens, following the death of his sister. In trying to find help and support for his niece Erin, Bill recognized that children need peers and caring adults to support them through their grief, because death profoundly affects every aspect of their lives.

The Center's mission is to provide loving support to grieving children, teens, families and the community through peer support, outreach, and education. CGC provides a loving community to foster the discovery and development of each child's own resiliency and emotional well-being.

According to CGC Executive Director Anne Lynch, "Last year's Markathon was terrific. In addition to the more than $10,000 we raised - we reached thousands of people to educate them about the programs and services of The Center for Grieving Children. As a result of Markathon, we saw an upswing in the numbers of people contacting us for services, an increase in younger people wanting to volunteer with us and of course increased revenues.

Lynch continues to mention, “The economic downturn has proved challenging for us at a time when we have added new programs for Young Adults, Bereaved Parents and Young Widows and Widowers We are currently exploring additional support for families who lost someone to suicide so Markathon 2009 and the support it generates is very important to The Center. We know the community values our services and Markathon is a fun way for people to engage in supporting us here in Portland and wherever WCYY can be heard. We're excited for this year, which is why we like to say "We are CYY"".

This time around, Curdo added on a bonus day to make Markathon a full week clocking in at over 100 hours of solo, straight, live on air broadcasting. The 2009 “Markathon” will start at noon on Monday November 30th and run until 5:00pm Friday December 4th.

Special guests, music performances, auctions and other surprises will be presented all week long during “Markathon”. The entire broadcast can be heard and watched live around the clock on 94.3 WCYY in Maine and on-line worldwide at wcyy.com. Listeners can follow on Twitter at twitter.com/wcyy. Donations can be made around the clock on line or by calling (207) 792.WCYY during the week of the benefit.

PROMOTIONAL MARKATHON VIDEOS

with Ira Prime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAp8CfPFC98

with Eric Levinsky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2EqsH8hZO0

with Portland Mayor Jill Duson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuIeWQyhcR4