Cronins’ teams raise funds for Irish Cancer Society

IN previous years Cronin’s Ballylickey have hosted an annual coffee morning at their Centra store in Ballylickey to raise funds for the Irish Cancer Society. This was always a well-supported community event and they were disappointed it wasn’t to go ahead this year due to current restrictions.

However, the team at Cronin’s still wanted to raise money for the Irish Cancer Society, so the staff at both Cronin’s Centra Ballylickey and Leap teamed up to take on a charity challenge of their own. Over the weekend of October 17th and 18th, each staff member in both stores took to the roads with every member of the staff getting on board for this challenge.

Each walked or ran a distance at their own pace and all miles were combined at the end of the challenge, clocking up over 350 kilometres between them with some customers also getting involved. Those who took part were encouraged to post their photos on Cronin’s social media sites and images were shared from all over West Cork, highlighting some stunning scenery. It was yet again a great community event.

Marie Walsh, operations manager for the Cronin group, said: ‘We always love organising the coffee morning; it’s such a great event for the community and it is so well supported by everyone in and around Ballylickey. We really didn’t want the month of October to pass without doing something for the Irish Cancer Society. We did throw around a few fundraising ideas before agreeing on the Cronin’s Charity Challenge.

‘Because of Covid restrictions, we were limited by what we could do in keeping with social distancing and keeping everyone safe. We really are thrilled with the response, everything worked out really good and there was a great buzz in the shop over the past few days, people sharing stories of their experience.’

Kathleen Hurley, manager of Cronin’s Ballylickey, added: ‘I am really proud of all the staff.  How they supported this fundraiser and encouraged each other to get out there and do a few miles and post a picture, which is out of the comfort zone for some people.

‘It was great fun and it was a very good team building experience, that involved the whole community. Our donation buckets in store are filling up nicely and we are delighted to help such a great cause.’

Donation buckets will remain in store until the end of October and the Cronin’s Charity Challenge GoFundMe page will also stay live until the end of this month.  All donations for the Irish Cancer Society are greatly appreciated and the team at Cronin’s thanked everyone for their amazing support.