Children’s Charity Barretstown issues emergency appeal to the Irish public

Can you help?

Barretstown, the children’s charity in Co. Kildare that offers free, specially designed camps and programmes for children and their families living with a serious illness, has issued an emergency appeal to the Irish public. Due to the Covid-19 crisis the charity has had to cancel many of its key fundraising events. These events provide crucial income for Barretstown which relies on the public to provide 98 per cent of the funds that make their work possible. As a result, Barretstown’s income will be down by approximately 30per cent . There are currently over 8,000 children and family members on Barretstown’s waiting list. Speaking about the impact of COVID-19 on Barretstown, Dee Ahearn, CEO of Barretstown, said:

“Since we first opened our gates in 1994, we have brought the magic of Barretstown to over 60,000 campers. This year has been the hardest we have ever faced. We’ve done everything we can to bridge that gap by reducing our costs where possible and developing new fundraising initiatives. But it is still a major challenge. We are planning on restarting our full therapeutic camps and programmes in autumn and will be running extra camps, back to back to help support the staggering 8,000 children and family members now on our waiting list. However, to make these extra camps happen, we urgently need to raise vital funds by 25th July to counteract our income shortfall. To make that possible, we urgently need your help. If you can, please donate today and help us to Press Play on childhood via our website – www.Barretstown.org.”