In the week leading up to Christmas, three Dutch presenters lived in a glass house to raise money for the Dutch chapter of the Red Cross as part of the annual Serious Request campaign.
Radio 3FM presenters Giel Beelen, Coen Swijnenberg and Paul Rabbering went without eating while playing requests in return for donations. The trio broadcast live from their glass house in the Grote Markt in Breda, Netherlands.
Some €3.1 million in donations were raised to help refugees around the world; Dutch Development Minister Bert Koenders had pledged to match the first €2.5 million raised, bringing the 2008 total raised to more than €5.6 million. In 2007, nearly €5.25 million was raised, including the governmental match.
Similar glass house fundraisers were held this year by Sveriges Radio P3 in Malmö, Sweden, raising more than 3 million kroner; and by Ghetto Radio in Nairobi, Kenya.
