Clubs throughout the county do their bit to help charities
SLIGO LGFA members have been virtual fundraising for charity since the start of the lockdown and doing their bit to support worthwhile charities.
The Páirc go Páirc initiative saw the Sligo LGFA senior team starting a virtual charity run on Saturday in aid of the following local charities; Northwest Hospice, Down Syndrome Sligo and Irish Society for Autism and it will run every Saturday & Sunday during the month of May.
Anne Cunnane, Sligo ladies PRO, said: “The lockdown due to Covid-19 came upon us all suddenly and without warning. It became apparent very quickly that this was a serious pandemic and life as we know it stopped. “Everyone was suddenly on lockdown with limited interaction with others, but thankfully for those of us involved in sport it gave us a different focus.
“Life within the LGFA is certainly focused on football but behind the training, the games, the leagues and the championships is a club which emanates from the community. This sense of community has certainly come to the fore since Covid-19. The LGFA/GAA clubs were one of the first organisations to react. They immediately rallied around in their local communities to identify who had to be helped out.
“This was particularly evident in the rural communities where access to other agencies are not as accessible as those in the urban or city areas. Clubs were able to identify early on where the gaps were, who may be in danger of isolation and who needed help on a daily basis or maybe just a phone call. The LGFA/ GAA emanates from community and we look after our community.
“Covid-19 also brought a quick end to fundraising for charity organisations and the LGFA/ GAA community stepped in to fill a gap. Due to the uncertainty of how long it would be before games would resume coaches and managers tried to keep their players’ fitness up. What better way to do that than by giving players a focus and helping the charity organisations out at the same time; so that is how the ‘virtual’ fundraisers began,” Anne explained.
The fundraisers Sligo LGFA members have been involved in so far;
St Molaise Gaels Ladies – virtually ran from Malin to Mizen Head in aid of SHOUT; Sligo Hospital Oncology Unit Trust.
Nicki’s Kettlebeats – Sligo LGFA captain Nicki Brennan had to change her business model from running in house Kettlebeats fitness classes to online fitness classes.
To keep her members motivated she decided to raise money for Frontline Staff by letting her class members determine how far she should run over 6 days while raising money for charity at the same time.
Shamrock Gaels – Ladies and Men’s run or walk 5km a day every day in May in memory of their late clubman John Lyons in aid of the Northwest Hospice.
St Nathy’s Ladies – 12hour solo run Darkness into Light in aid of Pieta House.
St Michaels Men’s and Ladies ‘Solo for D‘Saints’ from May 3rd to 15th in aid of CLASP.
St Patricks Ladies, Geevagh Ladies, CT Gaels Ladies, Eoghan Rua Ladies, Drumcliffe/ Rosses Point Ladies, Owenmore Gaels and Sligo LGFA underage county teams – walk or run for Pieta House.
Dromore West Sings – featuring members from St Farnan’s Ladies and Men’s teams past and present, singing in aid of Pieta House.
Tourlestrane GAA – Ladies and Men’s social distance relay for Pieta House.
The Sligo LGFA Páirc go Páirc virtual charity run from pitch to pitch is taking place around the county in the county.
Over four weekends in May, the Sligo Ladies senior team and management will run 1000+km throughout May.
It began last Saturday from the St Molaise
Gaels pitch and will virtually run to Castleconnor and all pitches in between.
The initiative is raising money for Down Syndrome Sligo, the Northwest Hospice and Irish Society for Autism.
Anne said: “Sligo LGFA are very proud of our members and of the communities in which we live.
“We understand how hard it is to fundraise. Sligo LGFA secured our main sponsor AbbVie for a 3 year deal from 2020 through to 2022 and Connacht Gold continue as our secondary sponsor for 2020.
“Due to Covid-19 our focus on football has been diverted, temporarily we hope, and our members keep coming up with new ways of virtually raising money for our local charities, giving back to our local community for which we are proud to be a part of,” she added.