This article is from page 30 of the 2008-04-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 30 JPG
SEVEN charities will benefit to the tune of €8,625.48, thanks to the fundraising efforts of a group of stu- dents at the Shannon College of Ho- tel Management.
A hard-working committee of 16 staff and students chose the charities and organised several events, over the past six months.
They chose Clare Haven, Cancer Care West, Milford Hospice, Bar- nardos, Breast Cancer Research, the Clare Crusaders, the Children’s Hospital as the beneficiaries of the money raised.
Among the fundraisers organised included a blind date competition, a quiz night, movie nights and a pan- cake morning, along with various
events in the run-up to Christmas.
The fundraising concluded last week, with a fun soccer match be- tween the staff and students. In a game where College Director, Philip Smyth made an appearance, the lec- turers (aided by fourth year students) Tore] tusl¢ mr OO ‘2 0 F
Committee member Stella Sloane said the fundraising has come to a halt, for another academic year at least.
‘The students are finishing for this year and we will start it off again next year,’ she said.
“The biggest amount of money would come from the events at Christmas. We find that people are very supportive of that,’ said Ms Sloane, who is a lecturer at the col- lege.
All 27 staff and 200 students played a role in some way in ensuring that a significant amount of money was collected. However, much credit goes to the committee, who put hours of work in to ensure the initiative was a resounding success.
Student, Des Loughrey-Grant ex- plained the idea behind choosing the seven charities.
“It was decided collectively be- tween all of us. We decided to help local and national charities as we are from all over the country,’ he said.
He said there was plenty of panic and chaos in the run-up to the Christ- mas fundraising.
“Things came to a head. We or- dered hoodies for all of the students, with the college emblem. As we were trying to organise carol signing
in Limerick and Galway, the hood- les arrived at the same time, so there was a lot of organisation involved. We were also trying to study for our exams .. .but we got through it,” he laughed.
“We are really chuffed with the amount we collected,’ he added.
The group particularly wanted to donate money to the Clare Crusad- ers, whose founder Howard Flannery was a past pupil of the college. Mr Flannery (39) died tragically in an accident last June.