Breakfast fundraiser in aid of St Joseph’s Foundation
EVENT WILL OFFER INSIGHT INTO THE MINDS OF TWO OF IRELAND’S TOP BUSINESSMEN
TWO of Ireland’s most prominent and successful business leaders will speak at a breakfast fundraising event in aid of the St Joseph’s Foundation taking place at the Charleville Park Hotel next Monday Morning.
Hosted by the Foundation the event will incorporate a keynote speech delivered by Denis Brosnan with the owner of the Charleville Park Hotel, Pat McDonagh also set to address the gathering.
The Charleville & District Association for the Handicapped (now the St Joseph’s Foundation), was established in 1968 after it became apparent that many children with learning disabilities from the area were found not to be attending school and had little prospect of doing so.
It now provides services for more than 1,200 people from within a 25mile radius of Charleville, including pre-school, school, adult training programmes, respire care facilities and retirement homes.
It is also responsible for a full range of other multidisciplinary services including psychology, speech and language therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, music therapy, equine therapy are also available.
A spokesperson for the Foundation, which is a registered charity, said that they had always received tremendous for various fundraising events that have taken place within its catchment area to help cover the running costs of its services.
“Due to HSE cutbacks, these are now more dependent than ever on voluntary fundraising, which enables the Foundation to ensure the continuation and future enhancement of our services,” they said.
“The breakfast event will be an opportunity for businesses and individuals to contribute to a worthy cause while getting to meet two of Ireland’s top businessmen.”
One of Ireland’s most experienced and respected businessmen, Denis Brosnan was the founder, chief executive and, until 2003, chairman of Kerry Group PLC where he was one of the driving forces behind the transformation of Kerry Co- Op.
During the early 1980’s Kerry expanded from its dairy core to include a number of manufacturing and food processing facilities located throughout Ireland. Mr Brosnan then made the strategic decision to expand into the US, a move that was instrumental in developing the company into a major international player that now employs more than 20,000 people globally across its manufacturing, sales, technology and application centres.
The Charleville Park Hotel is part of the Só Hotel Group owned by Pat and Úna McDonagh, which also includes a stable of other well known establishments including The Castletroy Park Hotel, The Lough Rea Hotel and Spa and The Killeshin in Portlaoise. The couple also the owners of the The Claddagh Pub Group in the United States as well as the Supermac’s Group restaurants and The Plaza Group of motorway service stations.
Tables are still available for next Monday’s event through Maura Twomey at St Joseph’s Foundation on 063 21679 or The Charleville Park Hotel on 063 33700.