Use the NEXT > to go through the gallery The community of Carrick-on- Shannon certainly shone brightly for Focus Ireland’s annual Sleep Out, raising over €6,700 for homeless people. BNI Riverside, a local business networking group, welcomed Monica McElhinney, Fundraising and Marketing Executive with Focus Ireland into their group in July this year. Members of the group decided to host a Sleep Out in Carrick-on-Shannon on October 15. When word got out, numerous volunteers from other businesses and local groups came on board to help organise the night and help with some online fundraising. The recent Shine A Light Night on homelessness in Ireland event held in Carrick realised almost €6,700 and the volunteers presented it to Focus Ireland. L-r: Deasun Lyons, Oisín Morgan, Sharon Garland from the BNI and the organiser, Patsy Garland, Scouting Ireland, Nessa O Brolchain, The Olive Tree, Monica McElhinney, Focus Ireland Fundraising Coordinator, Caroline Connolly, absolute Safety, and Martin Burke, BNI Pictures: Gerry Faughnan This night would not have been possible to host without the fantastic facilities of the Market Yard in Carrick. We were overwhelmed by the help we received from the community with bucket collections and from our brilliant volunteers, of all ages from 6 years of age upwards. Some of our volunteers included the Scouts, Carrick’s secondary students in their droves and of course the ever-reliable Tidy Towns folks and Leitrim Volunteer Centre were out shaking buckets from early afternoon followed by several businesses volunteering their time to help the evening run as smoothly as possible. The entertainment began in the afternoon with tunes and songs from the Market Yard musicians, then the brilliant Callum Wall, a singer/songwriter from Sligo joined us with a bang. Ruairí Morgan, a rising star from Carrick-on- Shannon, closely followed with some of his own compositions. We had expert line dancing tuition from the award-winning line dancer, Helen O’Malley. We then cleared the floor
Shine a Light shone brightly with €6,700 raised from Market Yard event
