We are delighted to announce that Irish Life Staff Charities donated an incredible total of €365,000 to two Irish charities. The funds were raised throughout 2019 by employees through various fundraising initiatives undertaken and the amount was then matched by Irish Life to reach this final total.
Each year, the Irish Life Staff Charities committee shortlists a number of Irish charities to receive donations collected throughout the year and the final two are selected by Irish Life employees. In 2019, the charities chosen were Stewarts School and Pieta House. Each charity received a fantastic donation of €182,500 to help provide support services and equipment needs.
Fundraising Activities in 2019
500 staff and their families took part in the Darkness into Light Walk. Staff charities exclusive draws for payroll contributors delivered over 300 tickets for family events, concerts, sports, and theatre and drama events. 300 staff attended the annual Staff Charities table quiz. 15 staff cycled 500km from Potters Bar to Abbey Street. 70 staff cycled up to 70km in the Great Dublin Bike Ride.
The Charities
Stewarts School
Stewarts School supports 160 children with moderate to severe learning difficulties.
The school is getting a new building specially adapted for children with physical, mental and sensory disability but the budget did not cover any indoor or outdoor playground equipment or benches.
Having a playground is extremely important as for many students it just isn't possible for them to access playgrounds outside of school. Many of the students also need a lot of breaks from the classroom throughout the day and a safe outdoor space is essential to offering them this respite.
The money raised by Irish Life will fund a fully adapted playground built-in time for the new school opening in 2020.
Pieta House
Pieta House do a lot of preventative work with young people. Pieta House have a programme known as Resilience Academy. The programme was developed based on the statistics which show that Ireland has the highest suicide rate of teenage girls in Europe and the second-highest rate for boys.
Thanks to the fundraising activity and the unbelievable generosity of Irish Life employees, Pieta House will use the money to hire more counsellors for their Resilience Academy and to fund their core services.
This year’s charities!
A new year always brings new opportunities. This year marks a special opportunity for 2 charities close to the Irish Life Staff.
Every January staff have the chance to nominate a charity close to their heart, that they feel deserves the significant financial donation. Then Irish Life staff work hard throughout the year to fundraise for the top 2 voted charities.
With 39 charities to choose from our staff had the tough task of allocating their votes to the 2 that spoke most to them. 1,726 of us voted for our preferred charities and we are very pleased to introduce our 2020 Irish Life Staff Charities:
