This is a fantastic story written by 5th year student Rebecca Rolland from Lycee Francais D’Irlande. This story shows how students working together can help impact several charities and Barretstown are delighted to have been chosen as part of this amazing project!
Here is their story :
The LFI Charity Club is a group of 4th, 5th and 6th year students coordinated by Valerie Egan whose aims are to create an environment where students can give back to the community whilst raising a maximum amount of money for different charities. For the school year 2017/18, the club chose three charities – Crumlin Children’s Hospital, Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind and Barretstown. Five students were chosen to act as group leaders to work alongside Mrs Egan to guide and manage the club. The five students, Barbara de Gaulejac, Anna Fatout, Valentin Berteau (6th year students) Lily Sivel and Rebecca Rolland (5th year students.) worked well together forming a strong team with the ability to motivate and drive the club members to accomplish all sorts of tasks and missions. The club organised multiple events such as Christmas Bumper Raffle, School Discos and Cake Sales which raised almost €4000!!!
Following lots of research, the club chose Barretstown as one of their charities to fundraise for. The work Barretstown do inspired the club to work as much as possible in order to help them to help children and their families. Barretstown is located in County Kildare and is principally supported by donations and fundraising efforts of corporate groups and clubs such as the LFI Charity Club. Paul Newman created this camp, the first of its kind to be opened outside of the USA and the third camp to be founded. It opened in 1994 and has so far welcomed 45,000 campers. Barretstown’s mission is to rebuild the lives of children affected by serious illnesses, in order for them to enjoy their childhood. Barretstown is the leading provider in Europe for Therapeutic Recreation for children with cancer and other illnesses.
In appreciation of the great efforts made by the LFI Charity Club, raising a total of €2332 for Barretstown, the club was invited to visit the camp to get a real insight into where the money raised went. The Club was greeted with a very warm welcome and brought on a tour of the grounds. The students visited the sports hall, the dining hall named Elizabeth’s Treehouse and the Med Shed, a place where children feel at home as it is discrete, friendly and looks nothing like a hospital. The Med Shed has a theme of the seven dwarfs and allows children to receive treatment without feeling anxious but instead, with ease. Then they moved on to visit some indoor activities such as the music room, arts & crafts room, photography room and theatre. It is said that Paul Newman considered the theatre to be the most necessary area as it allows the children’s imagination run wild. Lastly but not least they visited the outdoor activities that were available to the children such as high ropes, archery, zip wire, canoeing and the secret garden with the award winning Bloom Garden, used to play music and tell stories in a peaceful environment surrounded by beautiful flowers and giant macaroons. They ended the visit with the presentation of the cheque and photos.
‘’ The trip was amazing! We had the opportunity to see how children spent their time doing great activities such as music and cooking. Everything is just fantastic. I am glad to know that sick children can have such opportunities and despite hard times, have fun with friends. I am and we are proud to have contributed to this organisation.’’ ( Cassandre 6th year )
‘’ I think it is an amazing place with a lot of hope, and I admire enormously the volunteers who participate every day for the well-being of the children.’’ ( Alienor, 5th year )
‘’ Barretstown was incredible, a place full of love, colours and support, ready to welcome, help and make children happy from all around the world’’ ( Hamicie, 5th year )
We would like to thank the whole team at Barretstown for doing the hard work they do, and also for allowing us to visit and get a real feel for this fantastic organisation. Once again we are so happy to have fundraised for this charity and hope to continue next year.
The LFI Charity Club
Article written by Rebecca Rolland, 5th year
Get involved – Barretstown would love to get students involved in helping to fundraise money for seriously ill children. Contact Donna or Jane on 04584115 or emailing HERE to find out more