Lucan man goes to Hell and Back to help raise €6k for Enable Ireland
By Aura McMemamin
A personal trainer from Lucan has donated €6,000 to Enable Ireland in Dublin South West, which provides disability services to children and adults.
Conor Ryan, who runs Benefit Fitness in Adamstown, roped in over 30 of his clients to push themselves physically for the Hell and Back 15km obstacle course challenge in Bray.
The trail is an off-road course that involves crossing rivers, lakes, climbing hills, mountains and crawling through bogs and swamps.
Team Benefit, led by Ryan, raised money as part of Enable Ireland’s Life With No Limits Campaign and presented the office in Tallaght with a check for €6,004.33 on Tuesday.
The Life With No Limits fundraising campaign takes place from 25 September – 14 October this year.
Mr Ryan said: “We hope that our effort will raise much needed funds that will go to helping those who face daily challenges in life.”
Enable Ireland’s services for children and their families cover all aspects of a child’s physical, educational and social development from infancy through adolescence.
Enable Ireland in Dublin South West have a team of professionals with extensive experience and expertise in the needs of children with a physical disability, including occupational therapy, paediatrics, physiotherapy, psychology, social work, speech and language therapy and early education.
According to Dublin South West team manager Anine Willemse, independent living is a major aspect in their services.
The money raised by Team Benefit will help Enable Ireland develop their assistive technology elements in their service.
Ms Willemse said Enable Ireland DSW was ‘extremely grateful’ for Team Benefit’s work and explained what assistive technology was.
She said: “In Enable Ireland we appreciate the power of technology. We see how it supports independence, learning, creativity and play; all essential components of daily life.
“When a technology is used by a person with a disability we call it an Assistive Technology. The funds raised by Team Benefit will be used to purchase a laptop that we can use to train clients on Clicker and other programmes (assistive technology) and also use it for software to aid staff in report writing.”
The public can support Enable Ireland’s services for over 5,500 children and adults with disabilities in Ireland by purchasing Life With No Limit’s wrist bands, handy trolley discs or balloons from Enable Ireland charity shops, TK Maxx stores and volunteer sellers.
