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Thanks to you, The Ireland Funds is there

Dear Friends of The Ireland Funds Australia


A huge thank you to our Chairman Yvonne Le Bas, Board, staff, supporters, sponsors and voluntary young leaders who, in these extremely challenging times, enabled us to have a grant round in June 2021 of $361,966 supporting projects in Ireland and Australia.  $100,000 of our Australian grant round was contributed to the Heart of the Community Fund for which The Ireland Funds globally raised over AUD$660,000.  These funds supported 100 projects across the island of Ireland, 65 in the South and 35 in the North, in direct response to Covid-19 which saw communities around Ireland become more isolated than ever before.  

You can read here about our grant recipients and the impact your support is having on the lives of so many people.  

Major Event Update

Although we can definitely see light at the end of the tunnel and we seem to have a pathway out of lockdown, Covid prevents us from hosting the two events we planned in the last quarter of this year in Sydney and Melbourne which we are extremely sad about. Enjoying each others company is in the Ireland Funds DNA and we miss you all terribly.


BUT we will be holding an online auction from the beginning of November for two weeks, culminating in a Free Fun 45 minute Zoom event on Friday 19 November, we might even show you how to mix a cocktail or two! 

This will enable us to come together, albeit virtually, have some fun and announce the results of the Virtual Auction which hopefully will help us to raise much needed funds that we have not been able to do through our normal channels this year!

I am very excited that next year is the 35th Anniversary of The Ireland Funds Australia and to celebrate that we will be holding a very special Black Tie Dinner at The Star Sydney on St. Patricks Night Thursday 17 March 2022, bringing a sense of Ireland to Sydney, and we can't wait to welcome you all there!

Please Save these Dates!

I am also very pleased that our recent Global 5K steered by our National Young Leaders Committee was a huge success.  We had 277 participants and raised over $33,000 profit which will be supporting Beyond Blue in Australia for the second year in a row and Special Olympics transforming lives through sport.  There were many winners on the day but a special mention to Belinda Soszyn who was the second fastest woman and we honour her as a personal tribute to the late and much loved former Chair of The Ireland Funds Australia Sydney Young Leaders Andrea (Penny) McElhinney.  A special mention also to the Stephens family who put together this little video of their participation in the G5K.  

StephensFamilyG5K

A huge thank you to all our sponsors, in particular  Andrew Hyland and Lifestyle Solutions for your support and for encouraging your staff the use the G5K as a Health and Wellness opportunity too!

 

I look forward to seeing some of you virtually in November and physically in March 2022!


Very best wishes

Teresa Keating

Executive Director

The Ireland Funds Australia