Afterschool service Primary Pals raises €1,200 on Daffodil Day
STAFF and children at the Primary Pals afterschool services in Firhouse and Tymon raised over €1,200 for the Irish Cancer Society as a result of their Daffodil Day events last week.
The larger of the two events was held in the Hub Café in the Firhouse Community Centre on Friday afternoon, where a bake sale held by staff members for the children who attend Primary Pals, and their parents, sold out in less than an hour.
The children and staff also donned yellow to mark the occasion, and the children had worked on daffodil-themed projects in the run up to Friday’s event.
Primary Pals was set up by Tallaght woman Antoinette Barry and Knocklyon native Lorraine Reynolds in 2013.
They began holding Daffodil Day fundraisers in 2019 after Ms Barry’s father, Leo Corrigan from Homelawn in Tallaght, passed away the previous year as a result of prostate cancer.
“My dad passed away in 2018 of prostate cancer, so I do it every year, for him,” Ms Barry told The Echo.
Gillian Cowzer, Jacqui Boyle and Megan Ryan
“We did it first in 2019, but then we did something smaller in 2020 and 2021 because of Covid, the staff just made donations but we couldn’t do anything as a group.”
This year’s Daffodil Day was a celebratory affair for the 100 children and 15 staff in the Firhouse service, while a smaller bake sale was held in the Tymon service for the 55 children and eight staff members.
“The kids had a great day with the excitement of it, and they knew it was all for a good cause,” added Ms Barry.
“It was lovely for everybody. It was a real feel-good day. I was overwhelmed by the level of participation. Everyone really took the day on board.
Ghazali Sarhall, Shannon Donoghue and Sumera Imran at the fundraiser
“Everything sold out at the bake sale in Firhouse within 45 minutes to an hour – I wasn’t expecting it to sell out so fast.”
As a result of the two fundraisers, a total of €1,255 will be going to the Irish Cancer Society.
When asked about how she felt about Primary Pals raising that amount, Ms Barry said: “Regardless of the amount of money raised, I think it’s nice for the kids to raise awareness and do something for charity.”
Looking ahead, Ms Barry said she plans to continue holding Daffodil Day fundraisers in Primary Pals every year – with the hope that the fundraisers will become bigger and better each year.
