GAA Announces list of Official Charities

The GAA has announced its list of official charities for 2016.

Five charities from around the country and representing a range of different causes were selected by the Association to be charity partners for this year.

The quintet were unveiled at a special photo call at Croke Park earlier today. The charities are The Cormac Trust; The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust; Shabra Charity Foundation; Pieta House and The Cliona Foundation.

Each of the designated charities will receive a €20,000 donation from the GAA.

This is part of an on-going GAA initiative stretching back to 2010 that has seen the GAA select a number of specific charitable organisations and foundations each year in a bid to assist them in raising awareness about their work and also champion them in their fund-raising efforts throughout the coming year. Aogán Ó Fearghail, Uachtarán CLG, said: “We are immensely proud of the position that the GAA holds within Irish society and of the work that we do at enriching the lives of our members and the communities in which they live”.

“We take our role and responsibility in the community seriously and a part of that responsibility is in areas such as this where the GAA can be a positive influence”.

“As a people, the generosity of the Irish in helping others in times of need is well

known. In the GAA we are an Association with a big membership and a big heart”.

“The charities selected for 2016, like those that have gone before them, are all in their own unique way doing work that is as phenomenal as it is inspirational in its effort to make an extraordinary difference to the lives of ordinary people”.

“We hope that through their link to the GAA as one of our official charities in 2016 that their work gains more deserving recognition and that their fundraising efforts are also enhanced.”

The Cormac Trust

Established by the family of the late Tyrone All-Ireland winning senior footballer Cormac McAnallen, who died from sudden cardiac arrest at his home in March of 2004 at the age of just 24. Since then the Cormac Trust have done pioneering work: To raise awareness of sudden cardiac deaths in young people, and its causes; To promote cardiac screening for young people, especially for athletes; To provide education and information to raise awareness at government level and among other authorities as to the value of providing facilities for the screening of young people; To provide automated external defibrillators (AEDs) for sports clubs in the local region, for the use of the entire local community, and to train people in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and the use of defibrillators.

The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust

The trust aims to alleviate the financial hardship of bereaved families repatriating the body (or bodies) of a loved one (or loved ones) who have died abroad in sudden or tragic circumstances back to Ireland. It is dedicated to the memory of Kevin Bell who was a talented Gaelic footballer and Irish dancing champion from Newry who was killed in a hit and run incident in New York in June, 2013.

Shabra Charity Foundation

Based in Monaghan, Shabra Charity was founded by Rita Shah and the late Oliver in Castleblaney in 1989. Their fund-raising efforts go towards donating equipment for heart and cancer research in Ireland while they also support the children who are orphaned by parents who died due to HIV and Aids by building a suitable orphanage and school facilities in Kenya and Nigeria. To date they have donated over €600,000 to these needy causes..

Pieta House

Pieta House is a centre for the prevention of self-harm or suicide and opened its doors a decade ago in Lucan in County Dublin the centre of operations. In the intervening years they have helped over 20,000 people in suicidal distress or engaging in self-harm, and established eight subsequent centres, three in the greater Dublin area - Ballyfermot, Tallaght and Finglas and five further centres to cater for the rest of the country in Limerick, Cork, Tipperary, Galway and Kerry.

Cliona Foundation

In 2007, Terry and Brendan Ring created Cliona’s Foundation following the death of their daughter Cliona in 2006, who died from an inoperable brain tumour. Terry and Brendan founded Cliona’s Foundation as a non-profit Irish charity to help keep Cliona’s memory alive by helping families with a child suffering from a life threatening illness. To date Cliona’s Foundation has helped over 280 families throughout Ireland, raising over €1,000,000.

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