Tag Archives: charity

TEN-year-old Shannon boy Alex O’Shaughnessy is currently in Essen, Germany, receiving Proton Beam Therapy. It’s a cutting edge treatment for rare disease Embroyonal Rhabdomyosarcoma, which Alex was diagnosed with earlier this year. The family arrived in Germany on August 13 and on Wednesday, Alex’s mother, Agnes, said he had received 20 sessions of the Proton Beam Therapy, with 11 more left. He has also had a cycle of chemotherapy while in Germany and will have another before he returns to Ireland. “It’s only about half an hour a day for the treatment. There is one day-a-week where he sees the doctors and there are a couple of dressing changes. It’s just one day-a-week when we’re there for most of the day,” said Agnes. Alex has coped quite well with the treatment. “He’s good. There have been some minor side-effects. He’s having it near his throat, so there are some little issues but they are well on top of things here …

EVEN in the darkest days a gesture of kindness can bring some light. An Ennistymon family who tragically lost their daughter last year, are helping to make this Christmas a little bit brighter for others in an amazing act of generosity. Amy Dutil-Wall and her partner Vincent Wall from Ennistymon have endured the deepest of tragedies with the loss of Estlin Luna just before her fourth birthday in a car crash last year that also left Vincent fighting for his life. In honour of Estlin, the family have decided to donate some Christmas gifts to two worthy young girls around her age. Amy explains that she got the idea after seeing a number of offers of help to those in need on the Clare Free to a Good Home site. “It was something I was thinking of doing for a while, to give a gift in honour of Estlin and I thought why not this year. The holidays can be …

SÍLE Callinan lived a very full life and central to that was her love of football. The Cree girl sadly passed away on March 17 this year, aged just 26, having suffered a collapsed lung, brought on by Cystic Fibrosis (CF). Her death left her family and fiancé devastated. Síle was the youngest of Paddy and Mary Callinan’s three daughters and engaged to Micheál Talty, Quilty. She was a primary school teacher and worked as a resource teacher in Cree, Cooraclare and Kilrush, while Síle also taught at Labasheeda National School for a year. While her sister Anne-Marie and Micheál are certain that the last thing Síle would want is a fuss, they are leading the organisation of a 12-team seven-a-side ladies’ football tournament in Cooraclare on Saturday, October 7. “My dad has a big interest in football and the three of us played. Síle started at corner-back and she was moved up to the forwards but she didn’t hold …

THIRTY years after Lissycasey native, Sr Ethel Normoyle established the Missionvale Care Centre in South Africa, volunteers who have worked on the project, which helps the destitute, are to come together for a special fundraising initiative. On Saturday, volunteers, the majority of whom are from Clare, will gather in the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis to launch the fundraiser ‘30k for 30 Years’, a campaign in which they have set themselves a target of raising €30,000. Missionvale Care Centre, which was founded by Sr Ethel in 1988, is a non-profit organisation operating in the township of Missionvale in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Since its origin, operating from under a tree, Sr Ethel has grown the care centre into a facility that provides love and care for the poor and destitute. The care centre offers basic necessities to the estimated 25,000 residents of the Missionvale Township, including food, clothing, heathcare and education. The Missionvale Ireland charity was subsequently established in 2008 …

A TOTAL of 730 people, including 500 children, are regularly receiving supplies from the Mid West Simon food banks in Ennis and Kilrush, it has emerged. This figure is an increase of 180 people, compared to July 2016. Figures released by Mid West Simon this week gave a detailed breakdown of the amount of people who are depending on the charity to feed either themselves or, in many cases, entire families. In Ennis, 356 children are depending on food from the bank, which caters for 54 families, including 90 adult females and 26 adult males. The Ennis food bank caters for a total of 472 people, compared to 258 in Kilrush. The Kilrush figure includes 143 children, 58 men and 57 adult females. Tracey Reddy, client services manager with Mid West Simon, has told The Clare Champion that increases in rent is a contributing factor to food poverty in the county. “The number of people using food banks is increasing …

SOMEHOW Sabena Moylan manages to mix working as an air hostess for Virgin Atlantic with rugby refereeing in Munster, along with extensive charity work for the London-based Atlas Foundation. As recently as August, her work brought her to almost every continent. Rugby-wise she has attended the Rugby World Cup and the 2009 Lions tour to South Africa. Next month, the former Shannon Comprehensive and IT Tralee student will touch down in Chicago for the Ireland v New Zealand international. Currently working her way back from a knee injury, Moylan started refereeing in 2012. She calculates that there are four female rugby referees in Munster and 10 in Ireland. “There was a bit of communication between me and the Munster branch. I was touch judge in my first game out in St Mary’s. I wasn’t thrown in at the deep end in the middle of the pitch. They’re good like that. They let you touch judge for a month or two …

Hardy souls took to the water at beaches and lakes around the county on Christmas Day to raise funds for charities. Our photographer John Kelly travelled to Gortglas Lake in Kildysart where swimmers took their annual dip at midday, raising much needed funds for the West Clare Mini marathon Cancer fund. [doptg id=”90″]  

A crew of 20 rowers who have been circumnavigating the island of Ireland in a self-built 15ft skiff – a round trip of almost 1000 nautical miles – will arrive in Lahinch on Saturday, marking the half way point of their challenge. To celebrate this significant stage in their gruelling challenge in raising funds for Cystic Fibrosis Ireland, the rowers will be greeted by a party atmosphere at the promenade from 2pm. Lyons tea, who are sponsors, will erect a large marquee and will serve refreshments including their renowned tea to guests while there will also be a large kids play area for children to enjoy. The Row-A-Round Ireland crew hope to raise some additional funds at the half way celebrations as they strive to meet their ambitious fundraising target. All money raised will go towards fighting Cystic Fibrosis, a fatal genetic disease that affects approximately 1 in 1600 births in Ireland – the country with the highest incidence of …