Lend A Hand – Four Great Irish Causes To Get Behind This Week

Every week in the Her.ie offices we are inundated with requests from people asking us to help them promote their charity events. While every cause is worthwhile, unfortunately we can’t get around to all of them and so for that reason, we have decided to put together some of these events from around the country. Every week, we will feature five events you should get behind or get involved with over the next few months. There are tonnes of amazing organisations in this country, let’s help them out. 1. Charity Family Fun Day, Celbridge Athletic Club in aid of Console. Join in for a good cause; a Family Fun Day in Celbridge Athletics Club on Saturday 19th July 2014. All proceeds for the event go to Console, the national suicide charity. Entry for the event is as follows: Adults €3 Children / OAP: €2 Family (2 Adults & 2 Children+): €10 There will be a shop, crafts, face painting, family activities, games and so much more. You can log on to Facebook for more information here. 2. Footprtints for Leah. Footprints for Leah is a sponsored walk from Dublin to Killarney in aid of Aoibheann's Pink Tie and Barretstown, July 12th to July 19th. Tom Kelly has undertaken this 313 km challenge in memory of his beautiful daughter Leah who sadly passed away in August 2013, and also to raise much needed funds for two organisations that shave shown incredible support to the family over the past year, Aoibheann's Pink Tie and Barretstown. In December 2013 Tom's eldest daughter Leah was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer known as Ependymoma. Having undergone extensive treatment in January 2013, Tom and his wife Rachel received the devastating news in June that Leah’s condition was terminal. Having fought a tremendously brave and dignified battle Leah sadly passed away on the 26th of August 2013. As you can imagine a diagnosis of cancer one of the hardest things a family will have to face. On average three children a week are diagnosed with cancer, this is over 150 new cases each year with treatment lasting from a few months to up to three years. Tom and Rachel know how it feels to get such horrific news, they know what it is like to loose a child, and have your heart broken into a million pieces, shattered beyond anything that is imaginable and yet they manage to get through each day in the hope that they can keep Leah's memory alive and help other families faced with the same situation. It is for these reasons that Tom has chosen to undertake this mammoth challenge. Tom plan's to walk an average of 30 miles per day; with some days being longer in order to complete the walk within the week. The route will cover: 1. Tallaght to Baltinglass - 30.76 2. Baltinglass to Castlecomer - 62.43 3. Castlecomer to Ninemilehouse - 93.24 4. Ninemilehouse to Cahir Castle 118.83 5. Cahir Castle to Kildorrery 142.62 6. Kildorrery to Rathmore 183.61 7. Rathmore to Finish 197.74 For more information or to donate, log on to the Facebook page here. 3. Dublin to Galway Cycle in Aid of Respect. The 7th annual Charity cycle to Galway on Saturday will go ahead on the 19th of July 2014. The charity raised €13,000 for RESPECT last year and hope to build on this figure this year. Respect is an Irish Registered Charity which is Responsible for Fundraising Projects for People with Intellectual Disabilities of all ages within the Daughters of Charity Service in the Dublin area. For more information on the cycle, you can log on to their Facebook page here. 4. The Kingspan IHF San Sebastian To Barcelona Cycle Challenge 2014 This July (20th – 26th), join the IHF for the trip & challenge of a life time as you cycle from ocean to sea across sunny Spain, from San Sebastian to Barcelona and tackling some impressive Pyrenees peaks! When you dip your toes in the Mediterranean Sea, consider the mission complete! Not only will you have achieved this huge accomplishment but you will be helping others at the same time! For each day you are cycling you will be giving a person and their family one night of precious end of life care. All of the proceeds from your fundraising for this challenge will benefit ourNurses for Night Care Service. Since 2006, the Irish Hospice Foundation has provided funding to enable The Irish Cancer Societies night nursing service to be extended to patients dying at home with non-cancer conditions and who are under the care of the local hospice/palliative care service.*  This service – known as Nurses for Night Care – is an important element of our Palliative Care for All programme. Information on the night nursing service is available from the Irish Cancer Society. If you have a charity event you would like us to help with, please send us an email to Hello@Her.ie or toSue.Murphy@Her.ie