Ryobi fun day: Carrick manufacturer raises vital funds For NI Hospice

A variety of activities were available on the day for both children and adults, including a bouncy castle, face painting and a raffle.

The event held at Carrick Cricket Club raised £7,938 for the charity. This is less than half of what Ryobi have donated to the NI Children’s Hospice, having already given £7,000 to sponsor one of the elephants included in the Big Elmer Trail that took place across Belfast this summer.

Rachel Beattie, from the CSR team at Ryobi, expressed her joy at the opportunity to be involved with both the Elmer Trail and the family fun day. She said: “Ryobi sponsored one of the elephants at a cost of £7,000. A couple of us within the CSR team then created a small subdivision team to try and fundraise more money on top of that for the hospice.

“I organised this fun day because we wanted to reach out to the local community and help other businesses in the process.”

Staff also organised an event at Carrickfergus Golf Club recently where they raised £2,500 for the Hospice.

Ciarán Maxwell, who organised the golf day, said: “The typical NI September downpour didn't dampen the spirits on the charity golf day - a fantastic effort from all the players to brave the conditions and finish the round, and a massive thank you to all hole sponsors and players who helped raise £2,500 for Northern Ireland Hospice.”

All the proceeds raised will provide crucial funding towards the NI Children’s Hospice, enabling them to continue their services within the community helping young children in need.

Palliative Care

Rachel said: “We know that the Hospice is completely self-funded, they don't get any government funding. It costs £700 for one day of palliative care for a child in their home. None of us know when we will need that. That’s why it’s so important.”

Marco Emig, managing director of Ryobi, was pleased by the outcome and support the fun day received.

He said: “I'm actually amazed by the turnout of how many people actually came to support us here today. Around a year ago we set up the corporate social responsibility team, and the idea for the family fun day and the charity golf day events came from that team.

“We've been in Carrickfergus for more than 30 years, and it's time to start giving back to the community. It's really good to see Ryobi employees and their families here, as well as a lot of people here who are not our employees, which I think is really important.”

Gwyneth Evans, HR manager, also expressed her delight at the sense of community seen on the day.

She said: “We have been supporting the Northern Ireland Hospice throughout the year with various fundraising activities. We wanted to take this opportunity to bring all of our employees and their families together so that they could spend time in a social setting.

“And also, we wanted to outreach to the local community, so we made the family fun day open to the public too.”

For more information on how you can join the Ryobi team go to https://ryobi.getgotjobs.co.uk/home