Hope & Dream’s €160,000 gift
THE HOPE & Dream 10 has rapidly become a great success story for county Wexford. The annual race sees thousands of people take to the roads around Enniscorthy in a bid to raise funds for The Hope Cancer Support Centre and other worthy local causes.
This year’s event saw a sea of bright pink t-shirts set off from The Promenade in April, with over 2,000 people completing the race - each one with their own reasons for taking part and each determined to contribute something to The Hope Centre and Wexford Hospice Homecare.
With all the money having been tallied, Race Director Michael Jordan officially announced that it had been the most successful year of fundraising yet, bringing in a total of €160,338, which will now be divided equally among the two charities.
‘It’s amazing,’ said Michael. ‘ Here we are in year six and this is the most we’ve ever raised. We’re absolutely delighted and thankful for all the support and effort for both charities. It takes around 200 volunteers to pull this event together each year and it’s never a problem. People, in their different ways, will do whatever they can to help. Apart from being good for the charities, I think it’s good for County Wexford, good for Enniscorthy and it’s something that’s really positive and gives the whole place a lift.’
When the Hope & Dream first started out six years ago, it was planned as a small fundraiser to raise a few thousand euro for the Hope Centre and Share a Dream. A few years down the line and it has become one of the biggest fundraisers of its kind and sits with a fundraising target of a million euro well within reach.
‘I think we’ve raised over €820,000 in six years,’ said Michael. ‘We don’t like to set ourselves targets or anything like that, but at this stage, obviously we’re looking towards hitting the million with next year’s event. To think this started out as a small idea to make a few thousand and six year’s down the line with theh hard work and support of people across the county we’re closing in on a million euro...it’s incredible.’
While traditionally the charity which benefits along with The Hope Centre changes every two years, for next year’s event it has been decided that things will be a bit different. The partnership of The Hope Centre and Wexford Hospice Homecare has worked so well that the board has opted to keep them involved for the 2018 event.
‘When the board sat down to discuss what charity to bring in for 2018, there was a strong feeling that we would like to continue to work with the people at Hospice again,’ said Michael. ‘I think people are unaware the great efforts that they have to go to to raise nearly half a million every year to keep the service going. So we’ve decided that next year, The Hope Centre will take 50% of the money raised once again, Wexford Hospice Homecare will take 25% and a further 25% will go to the MRI Now Campaign.’
The MRI Now Campaign, linked to Wexford General Hospital is working hard to see an MRI machine installed there. At the moment, there is no MRI machine in Wexford and people face up to six month waiting lists to be seen in Dublin. The hope is that next year’s event can go a long way towards helping the situation, which will greatly benefit people across the county and the South East.
Next year’s Hope & Dream 10 will take place on Sunday, April 8, and Michael and everyone else involved are hopeful that over 2,000 people will take to the Promenade once more as they close in on the €1million mark.