Music for Life charity drive raises record €7.8m

The annual Music for Life charity event has raised more than €7.8 million, organisers Studio Brussel have said.

The event involved more than 6,000 activities in support of 1,300 good causes. It ended on Christmas Eve but some individual activities are still going on, so the final total will be even higher than the current €7,802,913. Last year’s event raised €5.1 million, almost double the €2.7 million raised in 2014.

Music for Life, organised with the Flemish Red Cross, started in 2006 and involved DJs from Studio Brussel playing music requests non-stop from a glass studio in a Flemish city in return for donations based on a theme. Previous themes have included landmines, safe drinking water, malaria and children orphaned by Aids.

In 2013 the glass house was abandoned and the event – now called De Warmste Week (The Warmest Week) – moved to its current home in De Schorre recreational park in Boom, Antwerp province. Next year’s location has not yet been announced.

One of the main activities this year was the Warmarathon, a series of races organised in the provincial capitals that brought in €415,710. The Hart voor Limburg gourmet dinner for 585 high-profile guests raised €185,969 in Genk.

The Flemish government donated €150,000 to the Alzheimer League, while the health department gave €50,000 to support non-profit organisations Solentra and De Kleppe. The federal government donated €100,000 for the Red Cross and Doctors of the World.

The Warmste Week formula allows donors to choose the good cause their money will support, head organiser Floris Nieuwdorp told DeRedactie.

“We decided to let people take responsibility for their own social engagement,” he said. “We let them choose what is important for them to commit to. That makes the impact of their efforts clearer and more tangible, and people choose a good cause consciously and with a sense of personal motivation.”

Photo: Minister-president Geert Bourgeois presents a cheque for €150,000 in support of the Alzheimer League © courtesy Studio Brussel