A Red FM radiothon has raised more than $715,000 for Surrey Memorial Hospital's Family Birthing Unit.

"Surrey's Sikh community packs a tremendous punch when it comes to charitable giving," said Surrey Memorial Hospital Foundation's president and CEO Jane Adams. "Donors were truly selfless."

The cash, raised by the Surrey-based Indian radio station's listeners, will be used to help expand and renovate the birthing unit, which is B.C.'s second busiest.

Donors pitched in from around the globe. Car wash owners in Australia gave $1,000, as did other listeners in Ontario, California, Indiana and Pennsylvania.

Two boys aged four and seven emptied their Spiderman banks at the radio station, giving their every cent to the cause, while a determined 100-year-old woman made her way up two flights of stairs to personally deliver her donation to volunteers at the station.

tzytaruk@thenownewspaper.com