Club holds fundraiser to buy lifesaving equipment

Dublin People 01 Jul 2016
Adam Worthington, Sarah Naughton and Liz Nolan pictured at the cyclathon at Bank of Ireland, Marino. PHOTO: DARREN KINSELLA

A NORTHSIDE football club has gone about their own way to fundraise for much needed Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) and the cost of training members of the club on how to use them in case of an emergency.

Marino AFC, a club that caters for children between the ages of eight to 18, was without the essential equipment before this was pointed out by a parent of an under 9 member, Liz Nolan.

The idea came from a general enquiry from Ms Nolan, a nurse at Temple Street Children’s Hospital, who asked her husband and coach at the club about the situation regarding AEDs. 

“We just happened to be talking one day and I asked: ‘was there an AED up in the clubhouse?’ and my husband said there wasn’t so I took it on as a little project to raise funds for two defibrillators because we play on many grounds,” said Ms Nolan. 

Marino have two home pitches at Marino Park and Croydon Gardens as well as playing some matches at Fairview Park and St Anne’s Park, so two defibrillators are essential.

Ms Nolan was looking for funding from local businesses but only found real success when she went to open a bank account.

“I went to the local Bank of Ireland (at Marino Mart) to open up the account specifically for the raised funds because this isn’t going to be a once-off thing, coaches will need to be trained up every two years to keep up to date,” she explained.

“The bank manager, Gary, said to me that if I wanted to hold the event (fundraiser) in the bank on the day they would match whatever we made.”

The fundraising consisted of non-stop stationary cycling on two bikes between 10am and 4pm by 10 members of the team. The older players, who were off on summer holidays, took the earlier sessions until younger members got off school later in the day to take over.

The cycle included cameo spells from Bank of Ireland staff along with a cake sale, and by the end of the day, Marino AFC made over €1,300. The club now has the AEDs and is continuing to raise  funds for training members of the club on how to use the potentially lifesaving equipment.

This cost can be up to €100 per person so Ms Nolan will not be resting on her laurels as she aims to complete her overall objective.

Marino AFC would like to thank Bank of Ireland staff and management for hosting the event as well as for providing help towards this extremely worthy cause.

REPORT: Brein McGinn 

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