In a bid to "shine a light on mental health" this Christmas, ABC Radio New South Wales embarked on an all-day "radiothon" to muster support for Australia's largest suicide prevention service, Lifeline.
The NSW Gives Appeal kicked off on Thursday with ABC Radio Sydney's Breakfast host Wendy Harmer singing From Little Things, Big Things Grow to evoke the generosity of ABC audiences from across the state.
Those "little things" grew into $306,000 and the number is still rising.
"It just goes to show no mountain is high enough and no valley is deep enough for the listeners of ABC Radio Sydney," Breakfast host Robbie Buck said.
Numerous texters and callers gave money, as the donation tally continued to rise throughout the day.
"I was at a very low time in my life after losing my wife and child, and I never felt judged and questioned about what I was feeling and thinking," one listener said.
"That compassion just gave me little building blocks to rebuild my life."
Another said that the service saved their family from a terrible loss.
"My daughter was right on the edge and made the decision to call Lifeline, and they talked her down and essentially saved her life," they said.
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The appeal received such strong support that the text line crashed multiple times in the morning due to an overflow of messages.
ABC Radio Sydney content director Elizabeth Green said it was an "incredible day" and congratulated all ABC Radio stations across NSW on "an amazing job".
Highly-contested auctions
Throughout full-day fundraising event, several auctions took place to give the appeal a boost.
ABC Sport's Andrew Moore auctioned off his famed Hawaiian shirts with Cookie Monster and Animal prints for $1,500.
Donor James Stuffy paid $500 to hear Evenings host Sarah MacDonald and Nightlife host Philip Clark perform a Beach Boys song live on air.
"These are unreleased tracks by the 'real Beach Boys,'" Macdonald said.
Evenings producer Lyndall Bell described the performance as "terrible, but very funny".
The Afternoons show made 1$,275 by recruiting The Bachelor Australia host Osher Gunsberg to give shout-outs to the top three bidders.
Whose listeners were more generous?
ABC Radio Sydney's Breakfast and Drive went head to head to find out which show's listeners would dig deepest.
Harmer and Buck brought out the "big gun" by auctioning off five exclusive-access double passes for their final show next Friday.
"You cannot beat that and equal that," Harmer told Drive's Richard Glover.
The auction for tickets to Harmer and Buck's last hurrah made $15,000 from the top five bidders.
"Well, you'd think that the pleasure of seeing you people leaving would encourage people to bring out their wallets," Glover jokingly replied.
But in the end Drive emerged victorious, raising $119,000 dollars over show's three hours.
Breakfast was not far behind, raising $92,000 dollars.
Where will the money go?
Lifeline Australia chair John Brogden said the demand for Lifeline services had never been greater, especially in the lead-up to Christmas.
Glover said he hoped the money would "provide that particular shot in the arm for Lifeline".
Mr Brogden said the funds raised would "make a real difference" to the work of 10,000 Lifeline volunteers.
"This is a real tribute to the 4,500 crisis supporters working over the Christmas season," Mr Brogden said.
"I want to thank ABC Sydney and listeners for your wonderful support of Lifeline and the acts of generosity."
The donation portal for the NSW Gives Appeal remains open after the all-day radiothon. Visit abc.net.au/nswgives for more info on how to donate.
