eircom and Special Olympics Ireland: 30 years of partnership
2015 is a milestone year for eircom and Special Olympics Ireland as these organisations celebrate 30 years of working together. 
This is the longest corporate partnership of its type in Ireland. It is a partnership that works and continues to deliver benefits for both, with activity and positive results increasing year-on-year.
This year will also see the Special Olympics World Games take place in Los Angeles. Ireland will be represented by 88 athletes, 40 management team members and 200 Irish volunteers. To cover the cost of sending Team Ireland to the World Games, Special Olympics Ireland must raise €440,000 or €5,000 per athlete. eircom intends to support their charity partner every step of the way on the road to LA by setting themselves ambitious targets, employees aim to raise €100,000. eircom will send six employees to volunteer and to keep their colleagues at home up to date on the games.
Carolan Lennon, Managing Director of eircom Wholesale, has eircom Group responsibility for the development and the implementation of eircom’s Corporate Social Responsibility strategy. “There are many reasons this relationship has endured and grown over the course of three decades. Our management team’s work seamlessly together, our employees have embraced and supported this partnership from the very beginning and like Special Olympics Ireland we are local, we have roots in every community in Ireland so supporting local community is very important to us.
Most importantly the overarching goals of our organisations are aligned. Special Olympics Ireland provides athletes with far more than the physical benefits of sport. Through sport, athletes develop both physically and emotionally, they make new friends, realise their dreams, and become the best they can be. This is at the very core of what we do in eircom. It is our job to enable and facilitate people to connect, using our technology in homes and businesses to make the way we live and the way we work easier. Like Special Olympics Ireland we want to enable people to be the best that they can be and to reach their true potential.”
eircom has created a series of fundraising and employee engagement initiatives which will roll out over the course of 2015. The ‘Road to LA’ campaign will see employees run, walk, cycle and cover 8,326 kilometres, the distance from Dublin to LA. eircom has created a bespoke app for employees to enable them track those kilometres. They are sending a team of 200 eircom runners to participate at the Great Limerick Run in May. Having secured the ‘Fittest Company’ title in 2014 competition is fierce.
Carolan: “We’re excited about the year ahead, we’re planning a national campaign to support Special Olympics Ireland National Collection day in April. Our employees are running; organising sports days, singing competitions and much more to support Team Ireland. Yes, we have set ourselves ambitious targets but I don’t doubt that we can achieve them and have a lot of fun along the way.”
