On the 18th of December 2010 the seventh edition of Serious Request was organized. Now, for the seventh time, 3 radio DJ's from radio station 3FM in The Netherlands, would be locked up for seven days, without eating and just playing requested songs that were submitted via a donation to the Red Cross for a particular theme. This year the charity cause was to help children who lost their parents due to AIDS:
"AIDS took their parents, now give them back their future".
Eindhoven was chosen as the city where the glass house would be built on the city square. Over 70 DJ's, artists, musicians, singer/songwriters, entertainers, stand-up comedy icons, and TV-stars showed up at the glass house to show their support and to donate in creative ways to the charity cause. Auctions were hold, both online and offline, many other creative small fundraising projects were organized all over the Netherlands by private individuals, organization and companies. By now, it seemed the whole country came together just before the christmas season for supporting in one big way the cause.
This was in the midst of the financial crisis that started in 2008. The Dutch government saw the overwhelming support of the citizens and decided they would not take government funds to support this cause this year. A pity, but it didn't stop Serious Request. If anything their resolve grew.
The three DJ's chosen to host the radio shows from the glass house studio were Gerard Ekdom, Giel Beelen and Coen Swijnenberg.
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Eric Corton traveled to Uganda to speak with children who had last their parents due to the AIDS virus. Their stories were incredibly moving and made an impact across the nation.
The total amount funded in 2010 was € 7.471.000,-, in spite of the fact that the Dutch government didn't donate anything this was a huge suprise and a new record! The evening of the 24th the total was € 7.135.707,- but some more funds came in after the closing day.
The theme song in 2010 was Wijd Open, by BLØF, the song that was most requested and as such contributed most to the cause was Hello, by Martin Solveig (feat. Dragonette)
