22 years of pushing ducks.
For over twenty years the Transition Year students in Clongowes Wood College have made raising money to buy a piece of life saving equipment for Crumlin Children’s Hospital an annual goal. Equipment has included portable ultra sound machines (for use with children with limited mobility) to machines to help diagnose cancer patients more quickly.
This June, 30 students accompanied by teachers took to the road once again pushing the Duck from Crumlin Children’s Hospital in Dublin to Limerick. Over the last 23 years over €1.5million has been raised and the group was hopeful that things would go well again this year. As well as pushing the Duck across the country over eight days in June, students also raised money through a whole variety of activities during the preceding year. These ranged from mini companies and pop up cafes to coffee mornings by way of barbecues and washing cars and made use of a host of abilities, talents and skills along the way.
In total – thanks to very generous sponsorship from people who supported the project in so many ways – €140,000 was raised and will be used to fund valuable equipment to treat children with illness at Crumlin Hospital. This will include an Ocular Coherence Tomography Machine for the Eye Department, a Getinge Autoclave for the Microbiology Laboratory and a Sepak Tissue Processor which will help children who need bone marrow transplants.
We wish to thank all who sponsored us including Dunnes Stores, Mallon Motors Naas, Westwood Trailers Naas, our school – Clongowes Wood College, Cistercian College Roscrea and Glenstal Abbey School. Without their generosity we could not have achieved so much.
We are delighted to be able to help the great work of the doctors and nurses who care for so many of Ireland’s children and young people at Crumlin.
Pictured above are the boys of Poetry led by Conor Galvin presenting a cheque for €140,000 to Dr. Michael McDermot of Crumlin Children’s Hospital.
Mr Steven Gray
