Home care service seeks help with Wacky Races

By Mary Dennehy

LOCAL businesses are invited to give a financial push to a Tallaght-based organisation that supports more than 1,000 older residents every week.

Trustus home care service provides invaluable support in the home for older people and those with disabilities alongside providing a day-care service, activities and meals on wheels.

Last year five supporters and friends of Trustus cycled from Malin to Mizen Head and raised €9,000 for the charity – with the lads jumping back on their bikes this September in a bid to raise €20,000 for Trustus.

This year the Wacky Races Team, which is made up of David Bowen, Joe Reynolds, Douglas Adams, Robert Fitzpatrick and Paul McMahon, will cycle from Venice to Rome in aid of Trustus.

The event, which will run from September 27 to October 2, will form a major part of Trustus’s 2016 fundraising programme, with the money raised going towards replacing at least two of the organisation’s four vehicles.

Marie Price Bolger, the Chief Executive of Trustus, told The Echo: “Last year we raised €9,000 with no preparation at all, we literally decided to do the charity cycle in the space of a few weeks and raised a tremendous €9,000 – which was amazing.

“This year, we’re hoping to raise around €20,000 which would help us to replace two of our four vehicles.

“Three of our vehicles are on the road everyday bringing, for example, people to and from the day-care centre, to hospital appointments and to pick up their pension alongside one vehicle doing meals on wheels.

“They are overused and we really need to start replacing them.”

She added: “We are inviting businesses in the area to come on board as a sponsor, or to maybe do a Wacky Races Pool in their workplace, where employees bet on one of the riders to win and their time.

“I will contacting businesses in the coming weeks and I hope companies will get behind us.”

Anybody interested in supporting Trustus and its Wacky Races team is encouraged to contact Marie Price Bolger on 087 2674971, email mpb@trustus.ie or visit the Trustus Facebook page for more.