by Paddy Walsh
THE push is on for this year’s Relay for Life initiative as organisers look to attract more teams to join in this unique fundraising event.
“We are open for registration and we’ve already signed up a couple of new teams to add to some of those who taken part in previous years,” local Relay chairperson, Seamus Devine, revealed.
“What we are hoping for this time out is a bigger input from the south of the county and from Inishowen. That’s one of our targets.”
At the time of going to press, close to 20 teams had registered for the event which runs for twenty-four hours over the weekend of Saturday, May 24 and Sunday, May 25.
“We had a fantastic response last year with over €150,000 raised,” the chairperson pointed out.
That money goes to fund a variety of initiatives through the Irish Cancer Society – just as it has done every since Relay’s inception in the county.
“A significant amount of money is spent in Donegal. Last year, for instance, around 280,000 was spent here involving the research programmes, counselling, the night nursing service and other vital services.”
The success of the research initiative has been a key element of Relay so much so that it is being rolled out around other areas of the country.
Meanwhile, here’s a statistic to light up the Donegal event – Ireland is leading the way when it comes to candle sales involving all Relay events throughout the word.
And Donegal has topped the lot with over 5,000 candles sold last year with the figure expected to have risen by the time the 2025 event looms.
“So many people put in a tremendous effort to help ensure the success of Relay for Life Donegal and we are blessed to have the help of Daniel and Majella O’Donnell who are patrons of Relay here and have been so supportive from day one,” Seamus acknowledged.
And so the push goes on and will do so literally on Wednesday, May 21 when local car dealers get together for the Relay for Life International Car Push which has proved an outstanding fund-raising success in the past.
The countdown goes on….
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