Lusk U11s fundraise to purchase dementia-friendly tv for local care centre
By John Harrington
The U-11 Round Towers Lusk footballers and hurlers will do a very good deed this weekend for their community.
They’ll run the equivalent of the distance from Lusk to Semple Stadium in Thurles by completing 500 laps of their club pitch in order to raise funds to purchase a much-needed dementia-friendly tv for their local community care centre.
“One of the other mentors, his name is Cian Daly, came up with the idea of raising money for charity,” says Lusk Round Towers team mentor, Mark Power.
“He felt it would be a nice thing if the lads could do something that contributed to the community.
“We bounced a few ideas around and I felt it would be nice to give something back to the elderly in the community and Cian suggested reaching out to the care centre
“We had a chat with them to see what they needed and they mentioned they were trying to raise funds for a dementia-friendly tv so that's where it all started and it's snowballed from there.
“We wanted to get the kids out and about and it was Cian's idea that the lads run the distance from Lusk to Semple Stadium for such a worthy cause.
“The kids have been knocking on doors and stopping people on the street and in shops. They've been great and we've raised a good few bob already. We certainly hope to achieve the goal of being able to get the care home that dementia tv and a bit more if we can at all.”
The Lusk youngsters have embraced their fund-raising drive with real gusto, and Power hopes the positivity it generates both in the community as well as the group of players themselves will stand to them on and off the pitch.
“Obviously it's for a good cause, but it's great for the lads themselves as well to be involved in something like this,” he says.
“We're trying to build a good team spirit and bring as many lads along together as we can to build a team for the future.
“We've done day-trips with them in the past and you can see how when they interact with each other in a social environment it really brings them on from a team point of view as well.
“It'll be great for them to see how much it means to all the elderly people in the care home and the positive reaction they'll get from the whole community.”
