This article is from page 30 of the 2008-03-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 30 JPG
THE students of Kilnaboy National School and the local community of Kilnaboy and Corofin have raised valuable money to help find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis.
The school have donated more than €2,000 raised from their annual coin collection to the locally formed char- ity, Cystic Fibrosis Children’s Light of Hope. The charity, which is dedi- cated to raising money to help fund research into a cure for Cystic Fibro- sis, was formed by a group of locals including Marcella Clancy, whose son Cillian attends the school.
‘There are about four or five of us
in the group who all have children who suffer from Cystic Fibrosis,’ she said. “We fundraise solely for re- search purposes.
“We do all the work ourselves so we have no overheads – all the money will go for research purposes. We have been going for about three years now.
Marcella continued, “Cystic Fibro- sis 18 a genetic condition. Mainly it effects your lungs and your digestive system. Children are very prone to chest infections and as they go into their teenage years can develop dia- betes and bone problems.
“Cillian is 10 years old now and he loves it here in the school. He 1s re-
ally into sports: rugby, football and hurling. And he is well able to keep up with the rest of them, when he’s well, anyway.”
This is the third coin collection or- ganised by the school.
“We organise a coin collection each year. It’s more or less an annual thing now,’ said school principal Gerry Connors.
‘The first year we gave it to Paki- stan, the time of the earthquake, then last year we gave to a local child in the school who was recovering from leukaemia. So this year we decided we would give it to Cillian’s cause and we are delighted, thrilled with how it turned out. We raised €2,000
which was great.
“The kids do all the hard work, putting collection boxes into the shops and collecting at home. In the end, the sixth-class students have the task of counting up all the money.
“I’d say that over the three years we have gathered as much as €6,000, which is great for a three teacher school. It just shows you the great community spirit that is in the place.”