Cliona’s Foundation
The Rose of Tralee International Festival this year announced their partnership with Cliona’s Foundation (a national charity supporting families with seriously sick children all over Ireland).
Róisín Wiley acted as an ambassador for Cliona’s Foundation and joined a cohort of Roses and Rose Escorts in walking the Camino De Santiago to raise funds and awareness last April.
Cliona’s is a national charity providing financial assistance directly to parents of seriously sick children with life-limiting or chronic complex care needs across Ireland to help with the non-medical expenses related to caring for their child. Since 2008 the foundation has provided financial assistance to over 1300 families.
The foundation was set up by Brendan and Terry Ring, following the death of their daughter Cliona, from an inoperable brain tumour in 2006 aged 15. Over the years, as Cliona underwent numerous different hospital treatments, Brendan and Terry were struck by the number of families, facing enormous financial hardship, on the brink of financial free-fall, blindsided by non-medical expenses piling up. They saw first-hand the enormous toll it took on these families, already struggling to cope with the nightmare of having a seriously ill child.
Joining the Roses from Arizona, Wexford, Boston New England, Toronto, Carlow were benetti Menswear Rose Escorts from Mayo, Limerick, Kilkenny and the USA and co-founder of Cliona’s Foundation, Terry Ring.
Speaking of the Festival’s reason for getting involved with Cliona’s, Festival Director Suzan O’Gara said “The Rose of Tralee Festival is delighted to partner with Cliona’s Foundation. The foundation is a wonderful charity who provide crucial financial support to families who are caring for a child with a serious illness. Róisín and I recently met a family supported by Cliona’s and learned first-hand how much relief the financial support provides.”
“Supporting charitable work is very much at the heart of what our Festival does – a Rose really can make a difference. We are thrilled to be able to shine a light on the great work Cliona’s Foundation does, and to support such a worthy and meaningful cause through this new partnership”.
Cliona’s Co-Founder Terry Ring said: “So many of these families experienced, and continue to experience, the significant non-medical costs of caring for a child with a life-limiting condition. We are incredibly grateful to the Rose of Tralee International Festival for recognising this issue and pledging their support. I am very much looking forward to joining such wonderful people along the Camino. We need support more than ever, this year again, we have seen yet another increase in applications from the same period last year”.
A recent survey conducted by Cliona’s shows how families with sick children are often disproportionately affected by situations out of their control, such as rapidly increasing living costs. These are parents who are in a living nightmare and the last thing they should have to worry about are bills. Cliona’s survey found that in 70% of families, at least one parent must give up their jobs to care for their sick child leaving them struggling to cope. Studies have highlighted that a family will need between €10,000 and €15,000 a year to cover various non-medical costs while their child is ill.
During Róisín’s visit, the Rose was delighted to meet one such family in Killarney, the Howards. Their two year old son Seán was recently diagnosed with a progressive genetic condition which means he needs a lot of care.
Commenting on the visit, Róisín said: “I am very proud to be an ambassador for Cliona’s and to support such a worthy cause. The Howards are such a wonderful family, Sean is a bright and loving boy. It was a real privilege to spend time with them and to learn about the love and care they give to Sean and his brother Dan. I am so excited to be walking the Camino to raise much needed funds for Cliona’s Foundation to help families throughout the country”.
Chernobyl Children International & Happy Kids Foundation
For many years, the Rose of Tralee International Festival has made an unbelievable impact on the lives of victims of the nuclear tragedy of Chernobyl through our work with Adi Roche’s Chernobyl Children International. As we could not travel to Ukraine this year due to the ongoing war, the Festival also partnered with the Happy Kids Foundation in Poland to provide humanitarian support to both groups in a time of great need by fundraising for both charity organisations and providing volunteering help in person in Poland.
From the 14th-18th February 2024, a group of Roses and Rose Escorts of the Rose of Tralee Class of 2023, as well as Rose of Tralee Festival Director, Suzan O’Gara, travelled to Poland to carry the torch of love, compassion and hope, to these traumatised, orphaned children of war-torn Ukraine. The Rose group volunteered at three safe houses for orphans in the Polish city of Łódz. These safe houses are three of a total of eighteen around Poland, that provide shelter and support for children up to the age of 16 years, with some children having special needs, and many of whom were traumatised from the effects of the war in Ukraine.
At the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine War, the Polish ‘Happy Kids Foundation’ prioritised evacuating 1500 Ukrainian children along with their caregivers from orphanages and obtaining places for them to stay in different parts of Poland that meet the appropriate housing conditions and are adapted to the needs of the evacuated groups of children. The donations received through the 2023 Rose Group were allocated to their immediate needs: transport, food, cleaning products, clothes, as well as specialist medical treatment, psychological therapy and legal care.
Charities like Happy Kids and Chernobyl Children International provide invaluable support in many forms. Our visit aims to raise funds to support not only the immense work of the Happy Kids Foundation and their safe houses in Poland, but also in support of CCI’s work in war-torn Ukraine, where they are delivering aid to the Ivankiv district (one of the most radioactive communities) to approximately 320 families, providing food to 145 school-going children in Radynka School in Ivankiv through the children’s food programme, organising respite camps for children in the Chernobyl zone affected by the war and to help finance cardiac surgeries in Lviv for children born with a condition known as Chernobyl heart.
Our Roses and Rose Escorts raised more than €13,000 in funds, and collected more than €80,000 worth of humanitarian aid. All monies raised after covering the expenses of transporting the donated humanitarian aid to Happy Kids in Poland, were divided between both Happy Kids and CCI – towards the children under the care of Happy Kids in Poland and the Radynka school in Ivankiv.
Fundraising done by Roses and Rose Escorts over the past number of years for Vesnova Orphanage in Belarus has almost single handedly kept a basic level of medical care and comfort for the poor children existing there. Without the massive efforts of previous Roses and Escorts, children there would have no medical care and would be relying on local women from the nearby village to care for them. You would be so proud of the Festival if you could see first-hand what it has contributed to the place.
Barretstown
The Rose of Tralee International Festival continues its support of Barretstown with monies raised through the Rose Buds applications going to the vital charity camp. Barretstown offers free, specially designed camps and programmes for children and their families living with a serious illness – supported behind the scenes by 24 hour on site medical and nursing care.
All of the children and families come to Barretstown free of charge. Everything, including accommodation, food and medical assistance are provided at no cost to the family.
Barretstown is supported by donations and the fundraising efforts of corporate supporters, individuals and community groups, and is a recognised as a centre of excellence in childhood cancer care and other serious illnesses. Children are referred to Barretstown based on their medical needs.
Since they first opened their gates in 1994 they have brought the magic of Barretstown to over 100,000 campers.
Find out more about Cliona’s Foundation here
Find out more about Chernobyl Children International here
Find out more about Happy Kids Foundation here
Find out more about Barretstown here
