Applegreen announces partnership with Barretstown
Family at the core of link up with new in-store initiatives set to launch
Partnership will provide 3,000 days at therapeutic camp
Thursday, 12th January: The Applegreen Charitable Fund has today announced a three-year partnership with Barretstown, becoming one of the largest annual contributors to the children’s charity. This significant partnership, launched at the charity’s headquarters at Barretstown Castle, Ballymore Eustace in Co Kildare will see Applegreen commit to raising €1 million for the charity from 2023 - 2025.
As part of the fundraising pledge, The Applegreen Charitable Fund will support Barretstown’s world famous onsite residential camp programmes for children and their families affected by serious illnesses, and will result in supporting 3,000 priceless days of therapeutic programmes for a seriously ill child and their families from across Ireland, over the next three years. Placing families at the heart of the partnership, Applegreen will become title sponsor for a week long Applegreen Summer Camp this July, as well as supporting the magical Barretstown Winter Wonderland experience in November.
Founded in 1994 by Hollywood actor Paul Newman, Barretstown offers free, specially designed camps and programmes for children and their families living with a serious illness – supported behind the scenes by 24 hour on site medical and nursing care.
Barretstown CEO Dee Ahearn, Applegreen Retail Operations Director, Aaron Duggan, Applegreen Commercial Director, Seamus Stapleton and Applegreen CSR Manager Rosie Begley were joined by Barretstown families, including the Cogley Family from Wexford, 11 year old Ciara and her sister Grace 15 and the Curran family from Dublin, 13 year old Danny and his sister Aine, 10.
Working with Applegreen colleagues, customers and suppliers, a variety of fundraising initiatives and activities will take place during the partnership with all proceeds going directly to Barretstown.
Speaking at the launch announcement, Applegreen Ireland Retail Operations Director, Aaron Duggan said “We are delighted to announce this partnership with Barretstown and equally thrilled to be able to pledge €1 million over the course of the next three years. Our customers and communities are at the heart of everything we do and supporting families will be a key element of the partnership. We are very proud to be able provide 3,000 days of therapeutic programmes for a seriously ill child and their family members.
We have an amazing network of 126 Applegreen stores across Ireland and we look forward to continuing our cause of giving back to communities and families. Recently we announced a milestone fundraising amount of €5 million through our Applegreen charitable fund and we really look forward to working with our employees and customers to keep this amazing work going.”
Barretstown CEO, Dee Ahearn added that “This amazing 3-year commitment from Applegreen is hugely important to Barretstown and the families we serve. This year we must raise €8 million, with just 2% government funding, while demand for our free therapeutic programmes has never been higher. Applegreen’s incredible support will be vital in helping us deliver our programmes and we are very excited to work with the Applegreen team and their customers to help Press Play for families living with serious illness.”
Applegreen’s announcement follows a proven track record of supporting Irish communities and charities through the Applegreen Charitable Fund since its foundation in 2009. Throughout the years, Applegreen has demonstrated a true commitment to supporting local communities with the aim to deliver tangible and visible benefits to the communities that Applegreen serve.
