Fundraising drive underway for Childhood Days charity caring for children with disabilities

A fundraising drive is ongoing by parents of children with learning disabilities who use the Childhood Days charity respite service in Drumshanbo.

The charity respite service supports children in south Leitrim with disabilities.

Their funding is limited and financial support is critical to the service functioning properly.

Among some of the needs was a replacement bus.

They began a GoFundMe campaign and as a result of this they have been kindly donated a bus by Bernadette McGovern, London.

The new bus is in place now for which they are very thankful but the parents hope to increase the awareness of the charity and will continue to raise funds for further improvements to this vital service.

Brian Gibney, whose son Oscar uses the service each week, explained that Childhood Days is a charity that works for kids with special needs in south Leitrim and further afield.

It takes in about 14 children every week, not all on the same day but spaced out across the week.

“Without Childhood Days, personally, I would not be able to work in a full time job and I can say that for the majority of the parents who have a child in Childhood Days,” Brian said.

Susan McGloin, whose son Conor also attends Childhood Days, described the centre as “a really important respite resource.”

Susan said “respite resources are few and far between and it's really important we work to preserve this in Leitrim.”

She said Conor, the youngest of three boys, loves going to Childhood Days where he gets rehabilitation, and the carers do some gentle exercises and physio with him.

“He really enjoys it and when he hears the bus coming in the morning he gets very excited. He has no vision but he is very clued in to when the bus is arriving at the house,” Susan said.

Brian said his son Oscar also loves going to Childhood Days.

“Oscar is non verbal but when the bus pulls up outside you can see the excitement building up.

“He loves his carers and they love him. It's great support for Oscar, he gets out and about, meets people, and they take full care of him on the days he is there,” he said.

“It's a fantastic service,” said Brian, “we would be lost without it. Oscar would be lost without it. He wouldn't have made half the progress he has made because of the people in Childhood Days, they are absolute angels and we don't know what we would do without them.”

Details of the fundraising effort can be found at GoFundMe, https://gofund.me/a1171dff