New Ross charities get €160,000 boost

FIVE New Ross organisations received a cash injection recently thanks to the Keelogue Institute.

In total €160,000 was handed over to various charities both local and national. The New Ross charities to benefit were CUMAS, the Community Hospital, Meals on Wheels, Mount Carmel and the St Vincent de Paul.

Representatives of various charities were at the event, which ended with the formal handover of the Keelogue Institute Collection, mainly files and board minutes, to Wexford County Archive.

Eileen Coman, director of the Institute, said remaining funds, amounting to €160,000, were given to local and national charities and bodies as follows: Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind; CUMAS, New Ross; Wexford Hospice Homecare; Bright Start; New Ross Community Hospital; Medicins Sans Frontieres; Kennedy Park National School; Wexford SPCA; Meals on Wheels, New Ross; Mount Carmel Monastery, New Ross; St John of God Primary School; Cross Care Migrant Project, Wexford Arts Centre; the FDYS and Lions International.

During Keelogue Institute’s 25 years of operation, classrooms, residential facilities and training programmes were designed and developed at the 15-acre campus near Barntown.

The Institute was founded as a not-forprofit agency for the provision of experimental learning and training services within and for the community. It’s estimated that more than 3,000 students attended courses at the Institute which established networks local, nationally and internationally with stateand local development agencies, primary, secondary and third level education bodies.

It ceased operations following the decision by its board to reallocate its assets to support local, national and international charities. Its legacy will continue through its students, beneficiaries and the wider community.