Just vantastic!

A LOCAL group of volunteers focussed on promoting positive mental health has been given a brand new van after their message of hope won over hearts at a car dealership in Finglas. 

Set up in memory of a popular Santry man who took his own life in 2010, the Andy Morgan Foundation has raised thousands of euro for suicide prevention.

And in recent times, the foundation has been donating ‘buddy benches’ designed to encourage kindness and compassion in children to schools around the city and surrounding counties.

The benches have been made by local Men’s Shed groups and prisoners in Wheatfield but volunteers from the foundation have had to pay for their transport to the schools.

They decided to “chance their arm” and contact local car dealerships to see if they could help, and their pleas struck a chord at Linders Renault in Finglas.

In fact, Fleet Manager Ciaran Curran was so taken by their plight, he invited the Foundation’s Angie McEvoy in for a meeting.

“Linders Renault are absolutely delighted to have met and become involved with the Andy Morgan Foundation,” he said.

“The guys approached us to see if we could support the charity by providing them with a Renault van. We were keen to find out more about the organisation so arranged a meeting with Angie here in Linders Finglas.

“By the time Angie finished telling their story and about what they do, we were blown away!

“We knew we had to lend our support. The concept of the buddy bench and the foundation itself do such great work, and to top it off they are local to us here in Finglas.”

Andy Morgan’s partner, Joanne Featherstone, said everybody involved with the Foundation was genuinely over the moon with the generous gift, which will help them get buddy benches into even more schools.

“We have lots of schools waiting,” she said. “Once we get the van up and running we’ll be able to crack on.

“The Men’s Shed in Swords is the one we work with mostly at the moment but we’re going to contact other ones around the city to see if they can help us meet the demand.”

The van will also enable the Foundation to bring buddy benches further afield, with schools in Galway recently expressing interest. 

Anybody who wants to get involved in the buddy bench programme can get in touch with the Foundation through their Facebook page at facebook.com/theandymorganfoundation.