Life Savers

• Irish Life Staff donates €140k to two Irish Charities
• Donations a welcome life-line in these challenging financial times

Tuesday 29th January 2013:- The staff at Life Assurance Company Irish Life today gave a significant boost to the fundraising efforts of two Irish charities ‘Haiti Orphanage Project ESPWA (HOPE) Ltd and the ‘Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association’ with the presentation of a €70,000 donation to each charity. Irish Life Staff Charities has had a long tradition supporting charities since 1995 and to date has raised over €1.2million for worthy causes.The donations come at a time when many Irish charities are reporting a significant drop in funding, despite the recognised generosity of Irish people who donate about €460 million every year to charities1.

Activities undertaken by Irish Life staff to raise the money included a white collar boxing day, various marathon sponsorships, a Christmas swim and cake and book sales among others. Staff has also signed up to an automatic salary deduction charity scheme.

Kieran Tansey, Haiti Orphanage Project Espwa Director said, “Thanks to this donation we will be able to extend, renovate and fully equip an occupational therapy room which will provide physiotherapy to over thirty orphans who have a physical disability.The renovation project will begin in February, much sooner than we had expected because of the generosity of the staff at Irish Life and, the work will be undertaken by both Irish and Haitian workers.”

Gemma Watts, Fundraising Manager, Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association said, ““This contribution from Irish Life is a phenomenal amount of money to receive as 75% of our income comes from donations and fundraising each year. It means we can provide home help care for two months to 80 people living with Motor Neurone Disease. This is literally a life line for people’s quality of life and dignity. The Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association is extremely grateful to the staff of Irish Life for their generosity and efforts.”

Sé Weston, Founding Member and Chairperson of Irish Life Staff Charities said, “Irish Life staff are very proud of their legacy in supporting worthy causes and gain a lot personal satisfaction from our charitable efforts. Now more than ever in this challenging financial climate we recognise the impact of our charity efforts. Our philosophy is to choose two different charities every year so we can help a wide variety of worthy causes. We wish the Haiti Orphanage project and the IMNDA the very best in their work.”

Some of the charities that have benefited from the Irish Life Staff donations include the Guide Dogs for the Blind, Special Olympics, People in Need, the National Rehabilitation Hospital, Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Goal, Aids Partnership Africa, the Niall Mellon Township, The Belvedere Boys Club and many more.

Issued by: – Maria Whitmore, Gordon MRM, Ph: 087 2377105

1 Research by Philanthropy Ireland (May 2011) showed that Irish people donate about €460 million every year to charities, averaging about €130 per person annually.