vision statement mission statement - Ability West

The Shrule and District Vintage Rally Club raised €4,000 for
Ability West during their annual rally in Castlehackett Estate,
Belclare. Sincere thanks to all involved.
The Ciara Grehan Foundation held their inaugural fundraiser,
a duathlon, in Lough Key Forest Park, Boyle, Co. Roscommon.
The idea for this foundation began following the untimely
death of Ciara Grehan Kennedy in November 2010. Ciara was
mother to three young children, Eve, Luke and Jack who is a
student in St. Joseph’s Special School. Through this foundation,
her family and friends hope to make a meaningful contribution
to the lives of children with special needs in the West of Ireland.
Ability West was honoured to be the recipients of €5,000 which
was raised from this event. We wish the foundation and the
Kennedy and Grehan families all the best in the future.
Proceeds raised by the Ciara Grehan Foundation in aid of Ability West following their
very successful inaugural duathlon event in Lough Key Forest Park on 6th May.
l-r: Denis Kennedy, Ciara’s husband, David Grehan, Ciara’s Brother, Breda Crehan-
Roche, Chief Executive, Cathal Ryan, Fundraising and Community Development
Officer, Ability West
Ability West would like to sincerely thank the Communication
Workers Union for their very generous grant of €8,000.
Presentation by the Communication Worker’s Union (CWU), August 2012
Back l-r: Ray Kelly, Board Member, Abilty West, Breda Crehan-Roche, Chief
Executive, Ability West, Damien Tuohy, CWU National Executive, Marie Dever,
Eircom CWU, Adrian Harney, Director of Human Resources Ability West, Tom
Geraghty, CWU, Paul Kennedy, CWU, Galway Mail Centre, John McHugo, Director
of Finance, Ability West, Cathal Ryan, Fundraising Officer, Ability West.
Front l-r: Mary Crehan, Ability West, Anthony Kelly, Ability West
This summer the Rotary Club of Galway held a family fun
cycle along the Great Western Greenway. All who attended
had a fantastic day out and this is an event which we hope
will grow and become even more popular in the future.
This event raised €3,000 for Ability West. Thanks to The Rotary
Club for supporting us.
Thanks to a Parents and Friends Group from the Portumna
area who organised a harvest festival. The former Portumna
Branch also raised significant funds and this, along with
proceeds from the festival, has enabled works to be carried
out in St. Dympna’s Adult Day Service in Portumna.
Ability West was delighted to be nominated as Boston
Scientific’s ‘Charity of Choice’ for 2012. We are very grateful to
all the staff in Boston Scientific and, in particular, to the charity
committee who worked tirelessly throughout the year on our
behalf. Over the course of the fundraising campaign they
held many and varied fundraisers including: raffles, sponsored
walks, cake sales and an on-line version of the game show
Deal or No Deal. The highlight of the year was undoubtedly
the Boston Scientific Strictly Come Dancing event where 12
couples took to the dance floor and entertained a packed
audience in the Clayton Hotel. This event really captured
the great camaraderie between the two organisations as
participants from both Ability West and Boston Scientific took
part. As well as an extremely effective fundraising campaign,
Boston Scientific also arranged the refurbishment of Ability
West’s residential service, ‘Glen Haven Group Home’ which is
home to four adults with intellectual disability in Galway City.
It is planned that the funds raised in 2012 by Boston Scientific
will be used towards the development of a trike park and the
purchase of specialised tricycles. This facility will allow people
with intellectual disability, regardless of their level of ability or
mobility, to participate in a normal, healthy and fun activity
which is usually not available to them. It will promote social
inclusion and promote disability awareness in the general
public. Over the course of the year a strong friendship formed
between Ability West and Boston Scientific, a friendship which,
we hope will grow and last well into the future.
A huge number of events and activities, too many to mention
in this report, were held throughout the year by branches,
friends, volunteers, families, services users, staff and services,
some examples are: Connacht Rugby very kindly let us hold
a bucket collection at one of their home matches where we
collected over €1,000, students of Galway Technical Institute
(GTI) raised almost €1,000 at their annual fashion show, Wings
Golf Society donated €1,000, €2,285 was collected through
counter collection boxes throughout the county, this figure
is exclusive of the proceeds raised in other counter collection
boxes which are co-ordinated by the branches. There were
also some significant individual donations and we are very
thankful to those individuals. We are grateful to everyone
who has supported us throughout the year and we look
forward to your continued support and assistance. Keep up
to date with our events on www.facebook.com/abilitywest.
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