Two worthy Mid-West charities have shared €57,000 between them as Shannon Group staff’s 2015 fund raising initiatives delivered handsomely for the organisations.
Milford Care Centre and Tipperary, Limerick and Clare for Cystic Fibrosis (TLC4CF) – the 2015 Shannon Group staff designated charities – received the proceeds from Shannon Group staff, who generated the funds through seven separate events run by staff during the year.
The most successful individual fundraiser was the hugely popular Bank of Ireland Runway Night Run, which saw 2,000 people take part on the Shannon runway last year in what is one of Ireland’s most unique charity events. Other major contributors to the overall fund were the sponsored cycle from the airport to Gort and back and a night at the dogs at the superb Limerick Greyhound Stadium.
Proceeds from the pool of 2015 events were presented to the two organisations at Shannon Airport as the 2016 designated staff charities were also announced. They are the Irish Children’s Arthritis Network (iCAN) and Abalta Special School for students with autism.
Niall Maloney, Shannon Airport Operations Director, said: “The ambition of our staff is to top the fundraising endeavours of 2015. We had a great year last year, with incredible generosity from the thousands of people who supported all our events, and we had two charities that do incredibly noble work as worthy recipients. They have received €57,000 between them and will put that money to good use for sure.
“At this stage, after the winter break, we are looking forward to planning our event programme for 2016. We had a great year of fund raising last year and had plenty of fun along the way and will be hoping to top that again in 2016.”
Pat Quinlan, Chief Executive of Milford Care Centre, said that the money will be well spent. “The very generous financial support we receive from fundraising events such as those organised and run by the staff of the Shannon Airport Group is of huge importance to Milford Hospice in ensuring that we continue to maintain the current level of high quality services that we provide.
“As we embark further upon the building of a new purpose-built specialist hospice unit for the Mid West, fundraising initiatives of this nature have become even more imperative in order for us to achieve our goals. We are most grateful to all at Shannon Group for selecting us as co-beneficiaries with TLC4CF as we fully recognise that there is a huge amount of work involved in raising such a large amount of money.”
Owen Kirby, Chairperson of TLC4CF, said: “TLC4CF were deeply honoured to be nominated as one of two ‘Charities of the Year’ by the Shannon Group. Raising €57,000 for regional charities and hosting such successful events like the midnight runway run, in this economic climate, is a remarkable achievement. TLC4CF are indebted to the hard working committee for their donation of €28,500 to Cystic Fibrosis. This contribution comes at a vital time for us, as we strive to equip and prepare for the official opening of the new CF adult unit in the University Hospital Limerick shortly.”
