Asthma Society of Ireland

Asthma

Exceptional Individual Fundraisers

Billy Forde

Billy Forde, was the Chairperson of the Arklow District branch of the Asthma Society of Ireland. He sadly passed away in July 2009.
At the inauguration of the Arklow & District branch of the Asthma Society of Ireland in 1983 Billy was first voted in as Public Relations Officer. Working tirelessly Billy eventually became Chairperson of the local branch in 1988, a position which he held until his recent passing. As a person with asthma, Billy was well aware of the suffering and discomfort faced by anyone with the condition. During his 26 years with the branch Billy hosted and organised numerous events which would help people with asthma in Arklow both directly and indirectly.

Billy campaigned tirelessly over the years in an effort to establish better facilities in Arklow which would benefit all those with asthma. Some of these facilities included the setting up of an indoor heated swimming pool and the Primary Healthcare Unit, both of which were established in the last ten years. Billy was also active in many other committees of the local community. He sat on the committee for helping to restore the old section of St. Gabriel’s Cemetery and he was instrumental in the setting up of the Arklow Youth Marching Band and the Inbhear Mor Marching Band. Billy was also an involved member of the Alzheimer’s Committee. His door was always open to anyone looking for help in setting up organisations to better the lives of the people in the Arklow Community in some way. This tireless effort was recognised wholly in 1993 when Billy accepted the civic award from the Arklow Tidy Towns Committee in recognition of the Asthma Society of Ireland’s Arklow branch’s outstanding community service over the years.
In recent months , Billy successfully helped to fundraise enough money to purchase two defibrillators, which he presented to two local secondary schools; Arklow Community College and The Christian Brothers Secondary School. The success of this fundraiser has made a huge difference to both schools and especially for the prevention of death and serious illness as a result of heart problems during strenuous sports activities.
Billy consistently kept the Arklow and District Asthma Society branch running, helping it grow from strength to strength through his tireless fundraising events. Some of these to name but a few included: the Stars in Your Eyes contest, the Flag days, the coffee mornings and the Christmas raffle, all of which generated enough money to fund the previously mentioned Branch activities.
Billy Ford’s dedication throughout his lifetime to the Arklow community has been exceptional. His achievements contributed extraordinarily to the benefit of the Arklow Community. He will be sorely and most sadly missed by branch members and the town of Arklow itself.

The Arklow and District Branch of the Asthma Society are hoping to follow Billy’s fine example and continue to fundraise and organise events to help people with Asthma through out the community.

Jason Corbett > €18,000

To celebrate the life of his wife, Mag's Corbett, who tragically passed away in 2006 from an asthma attack, Jason Corbett organised the "Mag's Corbett Golf Classic" this year at at the Ballykisteen Golf Club in County Tipperary in aid of the Asthma Society of Ireland. This event raised an incredible €18,145.00 for the Asthma Society of Ireland, and we would like to give our warmest thanks to Jason Corbett for organizing the event, to Lynn Shanahan of Daydreams crèche, Limerick and all those who were involved in the Mags Corbett Golf Classic.

The funds raised from this event will be allocated specifically towards a children's asthma project in 2008

Tom O'Farrell > €2,885

Tom O'Farrell is 33 years old and had never run a marathon before running in this year's Dublin Marathon on the 29th of October. According to Tom, before the Dublin Marathon, "The last time I was in a run was when I was in secondary school on sports day".

Tom decided to run the Dublin Marathon and to raise funds for the Asthma Society of Ireland because his wife Vivienne suffers from asthma. She has been suffering from asthma since she contracted pneumonia shortly after they were married 2 years ago. Tom knows what people who suffer from asthma go through and the adjustments they have to make to their lives in trying to cope with the illness. "Even though I don't suffer from asthma myself, I know what it's like for my wife, and how difficult it is for her sometimes. She was my motivation and inspiration to do the marathon." Tom's wife was at the finishing line waiting for him, "She was very proud and delighted for me".

Tom O'Farrell

Tom started his 24 week training schedule for the Dublin City marathon on March 19th, his 33rd birthday. He trained 3 times a week, doing 2 six mile runs twice a week and built up the third run increasing it by a mile a week over a 12 week period. "My training schedule prepared me well for the marathon. I ran into some difficulty around the 19th mile with my hamstring. I really had to mind myself then, adjust my running style and get myself home in one piece". Tom is determined to do another marathon now, he says, "next time I'll be concentrating on speed work".

Tom has been actively fundraising through the online fundraising site mychartiy.ie. He surpassed his fundraising target of €2,500.00. The amount he has raised for the Asthma Society so far is €2,855.00 and it is still growing. Tom highly recommends mycharity.ie as a fundraising tool. "It makes fundraising a lot more efficient and easier for you. Instead of following up pledges, the donation is deposited directly into the charity's account". He started his fundraising by setting up his mycharity.ie page and then emailing the link of his personal fundraising page to all his friends and work colleagues. The concept of fundraising online through your own fundraising page is a relatively new concept; however Tom has proved how successful a method it is for fundraisers.

If you would like to sponsor Tom, you can log on to:
www.mycharity.ie/event/tom_ofarrells_dublin_marathon/

If you would like to find out more about setting up your own fundraising page, you can log on to: www.mycharity.ie

Sean Darcy > €4,000

The charity football match held in aid of the Asthma Society of Ireland on December 22nd in Oriel Park, Dundalk was a great success! The two teams taking part were the "MK Ballymackey" team and the "Deepburn Thistle" team. Deepburn Thistle emerged victorious in the inaugural AS Trophy in an epic 5-4 victory over MK Ballymackey. There was a lot of support for this charity match from the local community and all the players thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the event, despite the very cold weather!

The MK Ballymackey players mostly come from North Tipperary and played together as a team while attending the University of Limerick. Deepburn Thistle feature players from the four provinces.

This charity football match was organised by Mr Sean Darcy, from Tipperary, who himself has asthma. The event was called the Sweeney Foodstore AS cup. Mr Sean Darcy is actively still collecting pledges made for the event and is very close to reaching his fundraising target of €5000. He has his own mycharity.ie fundraising page http://www.mycharity.ie/events/tipperaryindundalk/ , which has all the details of the event. If you would like to help Sean reach his fundraising target, you can make a donation to this fundraising event by going to Sean Darcy's mycharity.ie page which is: http://www.mycharity.ie/events/tipperaryindundalk/

The Asthma Society of Ireland would like to thank most sincerely Sean Darcy for organising the charity soccer game. We would also like to extend our gratitude to all the players who took part and the Oriel Park, Dundalk for allowing the ground to be used for this event and all those players taking part.

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