St Finbarr's to walk a million steps for Pieta House
Members and friends of one of Cork’s most well-known GAA clubs are set to walk a million steps to raise funds for Pieta House.
St Finbarr's are aiming to bridge the gap in funding caused by the postponement of this year’s Darkness Into Light event for Pieta House by getting people to do a 5k, or 5,000 steps, in their own backyard to raise funds for the charity on Saturday, May 9.
“We hope that other clubs from all sports across the city might support us and organise their own members to do the same,” said one of the organisers, Mick Finn.
Following on from the deferral of the walk from May 9 until October 3, the club - which is already assisting in the Covid community effort - is calling on members and friends to host mini walks or runs, tailored to the 2km Covid-imposed radius, to help Pieta House keep its vital services operating.
The initiative will support Pieta’s Sunrise Appeal which is asking people to get up and watch the sunrise at 5am on May 9 and raise donations on a day that would normally see over 250,000 people flock to routes in Ireland and beyond.
Last year, Darkness Into Light walks generated €5.2m with over €500,000 coming from the 22 locations across Cork city and county.
“People all around Cork are coming up with their own walking and running routines in the current climate and many novel ideas for fundraising are being well supported. We hope that as they continue to do those, they might think of Pieta House and donate,” said Finn.
“We are asking our own members to literally step up and step out to help Pieta House continue to deliver their services free to the people of Cork and the region.
“We hope that other GAA clubs and other sports clubs will support us or follow suit: suicide prevention and bereavement counselling recognises no boundaries or rivalries. This would be sport coming together to defeat suicide.
“Like everybody else, our players of all age groups are struggling with the current restrictions and are really missing the training and matches; supporting them in terms of sponsorship to do their run or jog or walk around their homes, roads or parks - within their 2km radius - might give them a timely boost.”
The usual route of a Darkness Into Light walk is 5km but organisers in the Barr's are inviting people to do whatever they can - it could be 1,000 or 5,000 steps - to allow everyone, young and old, get involved, while abiding by the social distancing requirements.
The Barr's will have a GoFundMe page and have collection buckets in supporting supermarkets and O’Connell’s Butchers, The Lough.
