Bernie’s brilliant fundraiser rocks
St. Colman’s Hospital set to benefit
BERNIE BYRNE’S fundraising idea for St Colman’s Hospital in Rathdrum is not only capturing the hearts and minds of people from Roundwood to Aughrim but it’s gone worldwide with Ballinacor people in Australia and Canada doing 5km to show their support.
Bernie, who runs Glen Valley Fitness, set up the St. Colman’s Challenge on May 17, and on the last count the amazing effort has brought in €8,220 and will hopefully break the €10,000 with the Gofundme account staying open until early next week.
Since the very beginning, Bernie has been blown away by the support, but in the last week especially things have really taken off with crawls, running backwards, wheelchair pushes and running while soloing a ball all combining to boost the fundraising pot to the impressive figure at present.
‘Albert Webster and Brian Dunne came up with the wheelchair challenge and we raised €1,127 from that,’ said Bernie on Monday.’ The Avondale Camogie Club, the Senior girls did a 5km on Saturday morning and all the juveniles went out and did a drive around Ballygannon for a 5km. They did a drive through at the back of the hospital and the staff brought out some of the residents and they were absolutely delighted with it. They raised €420 from that between the Seniors on the Saturday and juveniles on the Sunday.
‘The Glenmalure walkers got out and raised money. The whole place is involved. It’s going as far as Roundwood, Ballycoog, Aughrim, the whole lot. We had Liam Byrne in Scarborough in Western Australia doing his challenge and we had Ciaran O’Neill in Vancouver getting out on his bike and doing his challenge – all Ballinacor men, all getting out and doing their bit, wherever they are.
‘And then we had JP Byrne who went out and ran 5km backwards; wasn’t able to walk for two days. David Carter did 5km while soloing a football. And then the Ballinacor camogie women got out and crawled 5km in a relay.
‘Then we had Kearney, Caoilfhionn and Juliet, they did body boarding on the river. We had Albert, Neill and Evelyn did horse-riding for us. Fionnaula Olohan did 5km on her break in the Phoenix Park yesterday (Monday).
‘It’s brilliant. It’s been absolutely amazing. The big plus for me was when we put up the photos (on social media), that’s when things got going. Everybody got involved and everyone was quite happy to stick their photos up and get involved,’ she said.
If you want to donate or get involved in the St. Colman’s Challenge log on to Glen Valley Fitness Facebook page for more details.