St Patrick’s Rowing Club and their rowing friends up and down the East Coast are endeavouring to complete a sponsored relay row starting from Wicklow Rowing Club to their club in Ringsend on Saturday 27th April from 8am. This fundraising event, called Oars for Angels, will be raising some much needed funds for two wonderful charities that are so close to the heart of the community, Féileacáin and A Little Lifetime Foundation. Both of these amazing charities provide much needed support to parents who are bereaved by the loss of a child and are a source of strength to parents going through such a difficult time.
St Patrick’s Rowing Club would like to extend an invitation to members to come and row with them on the day and help increase the funding for these worthy causes. There will be six legs for adults and one for the junior section.
The legs will be as follows:
- Wicklow RC to Greystones RC
- Greystones RC to Bray RC
- Bray RC to Coliemore Harbour
- Coliemore Harbour to Bullock Harbour
- Bullock Harbour to Dun Laoghaire RC
- Dun Laoghaire RC to Stella Maris RC
- Stella Maris RC to St Patrick’s RC (Junior section only)
All clubs can choose to row 1,2,3,4, or all 5-6 legs
All participants will receive a commemorative T-shirt and St Patrick’s Rowing Club is proposing that all rowers raise at least €100 (where possible) per person. Sponsorship cards will be available and they will be delivered to those in the clubs that have agreed to take part.
St Patrick’s Rowing Club would really love to see as many clubs and crews as possible to take part in this brilliant charity event and your involvement will have a great impact on both charities so together they want to raise some much needed awareness to highlight all the wonderful work that these earth angels do because they deserve it and so much more.
Féileacáin provides every hospital in Ireland with ‘Memory Boxes’ and these are for parents to make precious memories with their babies. Nearly 1000 of these every year go out. A Féileacáin volunteer comes to the hospital and takes clay prints of the baby’s hands and feet and then takes it away to be framed and given to the parents. They also gift a candle to the parents with their child’s name on it. Féileacáin hosts monthly support meetings around the country, including zoom meetings. These amazing volunteers are available 24/7.
A Little Lifetime Foundation was established in 1983 by a group of bereaved parents. They are an Irish registered charity who provides support to parents whose baby had died around the time of birth. They offer one-to-one counselling with their bereavement therapist, Dr Peter Hanlon, group meetings, creative workshops and annual remembrance services. All of the support teams are made up of bereaved parents and all the services are free of charge.
Local encouragement is always welcome so come out on the day to the local clubs (St Patrick’s & Stella Maris), from 3pm to show your support for all the rowers and enjoy some exciting relay races by the Junior crews.
Féileacáin and A Little Lifetime Foundation can be found on all social media platforms/websites where you can use the donation link to give what you can. You can also scan the QR code here to bring you straight to the link.
Remember, every contribution matters.
