Christmas Initiatives by our Member Companies

BITCI News - Members News - Dec 04, 2013

christmas-lightsA lot of our members each year plan activities in the run-up to Christmas to support their community partners :

AIB is hosting a Charity Christmas Market on 6th December in the main Atrium of AIB Bankcentre from 11am-3pm. There will be around 30 charities selling a range of gifts, cards and Christmas treats. This is the biggest ever charity market to have been held in AIB. This is a great opportunity for staff to do some Christmas shopping whilst helping to raise much needed funds for some very good causes.

The AIB Choir will be singing some Christmas classics from 12.30 to 1.30 to spread some cheer!

Some of the charities/ causes are listed below:

The Irish Hospice Foundation/ Parkinsons Association of Ireland/ RNLI Lifeboat Charity/ Temple Street Children’s Hospital/ The Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind/ Bray Lakers/ ARC Cancer Support Centre/ Irish Cancer Society/ Irish Blue Cross/ Dyslexia Association of Ireland/ Epilepsy Ireland/ DEBRA Ireland/ REACH (association for children with loss of limb)/ Jack and Jill Association/ St John’s Cancer Ward in Crumlin/ Arch Club/ Suicide or Survive/ Children

Mercury Engineering is participating in the Toy / Food Appeal, working alongside with St Vincent De Paul. Mercury has been involved with this campaign for the past 3 years and it has been incredibly successful with excellent support. Mercury Engineering will be collecting Toys & Food both on site and in our Head Office and we are hoping to continue the success of previous years.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car will be holding their annual Toy Run for Crumlin Children’s Hospital.

Oracle have launched a Christmas Giving Tree Appeal where employees can donate to their three chosen charities CARI, CASPR and the IYF.

Sodexo tonight will host a Christmas Cookery Demonstration with celebrity Chef Derry Clarke, in the Clarion Hotel Cork.  Proceeds from the event will go towards their fundraising, supporting Barnardos and the Irish Cancer Society.

In the week leading up to Christmas, Dublin Airport Authority will be hosting over 800 children from local schools such as Rivermeade, St. Cronin’s in Swords, Portmarnock Community School, St. Margaret’s and Scoil An Duinninigh among others, belting out festive tunes at Dublin Airport for passengers and those who will be welcoming them home. DDA’s carol singing programme has proven to work well on a number of levels with both teachers and students delighted for the opportunity to get out of the classroom to put their musical skills on show, the DAA is thrilled to have an entertainment programme providing a great atmosphere for passengers arriving home for Christmas, and it is also a fantastic way for them to network and build upon their relationship with the local schools and community.

Cork Airport will be similarly hosting a special surprise from December 9th to December 20th with the fundraising initiative ‘12 Days of Christmas’ in association with Red FM. The charity initiative will see local choirs perform at Cork Airport over 12 days in the lead-up to Christmas to raise much needed funds for Cork Airport’s three charities of the year : Bee for Battens, Make a Wish Foundation and Down Syndrome Ireland. All of the money raised will go to benefit the three charities and Cork Airport will also contribute to the fundraising total for these very worthy causes.

State Street employees, in their Kilkenny office, are organising activities in aid of the Cois Nore Cancer support unit in Kilkenny.  A raffle, the Great Kilkenny Bake Sale, a Santa race, a best-dressed Santa/Elf/Reindeer competition and a call to colleagues to collect their abandoned copper coins are just some of the activities planned.

A&L Goodbody have planned a range of Christmas activities, these include:

  • A  Toy Appeal for the IFSC Inner City Trust, One Family and the North Inner City Family Home Support Service.
  • A Christmas Cake Sale with Christmas Carols by students from St Joseph’s Co-ed Primary School, East Wall (one of the partner schools in our Suas Literacy Support Programme). All proceeds raised from the Cake Sale will go towards buying books for 4 local schools that we run literacy and educational programmes with in the local community.
  • A Christmas Card Donation to DePaul Ireland – feeding into the overarching Step Up Community theme of supporting those most in need in our community.
  • Supporting the Trust Clothing organise a clothes donation in association with TRUST – employees bring in old clean clothes for homeless people