St. Mary’s Charleville raises €3,800  so far for local frontline heroes!

31 students and 4 members of staff at St Mary’s Secondary in Charleville took part in its first ever Wallathon Ballathon, organised by business teacher and camogie coach Colette Kelleher from Ballyagran. The event raised the fantastic sum of €3,800

Friday, 17th April, 2020 will always be remembered by the community of St Mary’s Secondary in Charleville, when 31 students and four members of staff participated in the first ever Wallathon Ballathon, fantastically organised by business teacher and camogie coach Colette Kelleher from Ballyagran, and raised the fantastic sum of €3,800 which will be donated to support frontline heroes in local nursing homes. The money raised is going to the following nursing homes in our community: St. Gobnait’s Nursing Home in Ballyagran, Beech Lodge Care facility in Bruree, St. Martha’s Nursing Home in Charleville, Caherass in Croom, The Windmill in Churchtown, and Padre Pio Nursing Home in Churchtown. We know they are all delighted with such a tremendous financial gift which will be put to great use.
To say that St. Mary’s is blown away by the generosity of the people of Charleville and surrounding areas is an understatement. We started off with an original goal of raising €500, and the school wants to say a massive thank you to everybody who donated and helped in any way. St. Mary’s Charleville wanted to be able to do something for those in our community who are working so hard on the frontline, some of whom are parents, guardians, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, neighbours, past students and friends of St. Mary’s. One of the core principles of our school is caring for and respecting each other, and every day our students and staff carry out their daily lives with this in mind. So, we wanted to do our bit to help the frontline workers in our community to say how much St. Mary’s cares about what ye have done for us all.
Well done and congratulations to our talented and independent students who could only rely on emails to get this done. They all played their part so unbelievably well. The initiative the students have shown is inspirational. We are so proud of you all! The following students participated:
1st Year, Danielle Finucane (Newtownshandrum), Eimear O’Sullivan (Ballyagran), Cliodhna Vaughan (Ballyagran).
2nd Year, Sophie McDonogh (Granagh-Ballingarry), Leah Ryan (Charleville), Emma Pulis (Newtownshandrum), Cayleigh McNamara (Charleville), Meadhbh Riordan (Blackrock/Effin), Katelyn Daly (Ballyhea).
3rd Year, Shona O Neill (Charleville), Aoibhin Barrington (Granagh-Ballingarry), Abbie O’Shea (Granagh/Ballingarry), Caoimhe Morrissey (Ballyhea).
4th Year, Jane Foley (Ballyhea), Aoibhinn O’Keeffe (Newtownshandrum), Siobhan O’Hara (Charleville), Emma Morrissey (Charleville), Lauren Dillon-O’Toole.
5th Year, Caoimhe Collins (Newtownshandrum)
6th Year, Jade Hooper (Ballyhea), Sophie Collins (Newtownshandrum), Isabel Mortell (Ballyhea), Emma Kerins (Granagh/Ballingarry).
A great day was had by all. Again, thank you to every single person who donated. We are extremely appreciative and our school is really feeling the love!

Message from one of our Head Girls, Emma Kerins
St Mary’s Secondary School Charleville would like to thank everyone who donated to our fundraising event organised by our very own Ms. Kelleher, which was held on Friday, 17th April. Thirty one volunteers, staff and students from our school, got involved and completed a 12’hour ‘Ball Wallathon’. Each participant was allocated a 30-minute time slot to hit any ball off a wall at home. There were updates throughout the day on our school Facebook page of videos sent in by every participant after they had completed their session. In this way we at St Mary’s Charleville proved that, although we are apart, our school spirit remains and we can still work together as a school despite social distancing to help our frontline workers. Our amazing frontline workers are putting their lives at risk every day to keep our country safe. Our aim was to raise much-needed funds to protect our local heroes on the frontline. The money we raised went towards PPE for these frontline workers in our community to aid in keeping them safe from COVID 19. Our dedication and commitment paid off as we raised €3,450, exceeding our initial goal! During these difficult times I would urge everyone to be mindful of others and abide by the government restrictions. Stay home, stay safe. Our school is just a small example of how each individual can make a difference, our combined efforts have shown that we CAN beat this virus. Ní neart go cur le chéile.
Emma Kerins, Head Girl.