COPE Foundation is an organisation which supports 2,300 children and adults with intellectual disabilities and/or autism in Cork city and county. It achieves this through a network of community based support in 65 different locations.

Part of the Foundation’s funding comes from money collected by 20 local voluntary fundraising committees. The Fermoy COPE fundraising committee has been in existence for more than 25 years and has many long-serving members. The current chairman, secretary and treasurer are Ian Fleming, Mary Allen and Denis Crowley respectively. The committee collects money through different activities and a portion of this is spent for the benefit of the local COPE facilities. These consist of Dun Aoibhinn, a residential and day-care facility, and Bracken – a house purchased and kindly gifted to COPE by the Mangan family from a surplus of funds collected for the late Stuart Mangan and opened in 2013 as a respite facility. Both facilities are located at Duntaheen in Fermoy. The remainder of the funds collected is given to COPE central fundraising to continue the organisation’s essential work in the county.

THANKS

At the latest AGM the chairman thanked the many organisations and groups that helped to raise funds throughout the year. He expressed his sincere thanks to the Rowing Club, Mags Kiely, Deirdre Lynch (who organised a cooking event), the Chiropractic practice in Kilworth, Rathcormac Vintage Tractors, Geraldine Appelbe (who organised a golf classic) and to Fitzgibbon’s Bar, Glanworth who held a pub weigh-in and everybody who contributed generously to the local church gate collections and flag day. A cheque for €19,000 was presented to COPE Foundation. Locally, money was donated by the committee to fund Tai Chi classes for service users and residents in Dun Aoibhinn, to purchase a TV for Dun Aoibhinn and to purchase furniture for Bracken.

Colette Kelleher the CEO of COPE thanked the Fermoy fundraising committee for their great work and outlined developments in the services provided by the organisation in these difficult financial times. She pointed out that there had been no closure of any services and no introduction of charges, despite the cutbacks.

VOLUNTEERS

Fundraising of course continues to be vitally important for COPE Foundation. It is a very opportune time for volunteers, especially relatives and friends of people using the services of COPE, to increase their involvement with the Fermoy committee and help with the activities planned for this year. Indeed the committee would be delighted to see new volunteers at the next meeting in Dun Aoibhinn on March 4th.