O'Shea Sport Charity Day - June 20th 2009
Thank you to everyone who contributed to a great weekend of charity. The Tankards League XI defeated a spirited Guest XI 4-3 despite one man's attempts to spoil the fun with handballs and yellow cards, and the quiz and Race accross Paris went off with very little problems, raising over 1000euros in total. Big thanks to Robin who loaned us the Bombardier, and Des for sorting out the pitches and refs.
Below is a letter from the CEO of the St. David's Society:-
Dear Friends,
On behalf of all of our adoptive children and families and everyone who works for the Charity, can I offer a very big thank you to all who participated in the O’Shea Sport Charity Day. Your thoughtfulness, generosity and great efforts whether on the football fields spanning from Europe to S. Africa, the Top Gear race across Paris, the Quiz masters, the casino night in Scotland or the sampling the hospitality of the Bombardier, one of Paris’s finest pub, is greatly appreciated. A particular thank you to Dominic whose inspiration, drive and tremendous energy give birth to this global event! Thank you also to Robin & Des and the Tankards league who I gather played an inspired game of football.
It might be helpful if we provided you with some information about the work of St. David’s. Established as an adoption agency in 1947, St David’s is the longest servicing adoption agency in Wales. In the past sixty-two years the Society has placed over 2,000 children for adoption.
Many of the children currently waiting for adoption are older children. Their age range varies from 3 to 11 years of age. Some of these children are brothers and sisters who need to remain together. All of these children have experienced neglect, ill-treatment, and suffered separation and loss.
The Department of Health estimate that there are approximately 4,000 children in care in England and Wales currently waiting for adoptive homes. These children have yet to experience the most basic right to family life, a right embedded in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child.
A Department of Health Green Paper, “Handle With Care,” (Published Sept 2006), indicated that the outcomes for children who remain in care for long periods are far from satisfactory.
40% of the prison population under 25 years of age are ex-care leavers
Approximately 40% of homeless adults are ex-care leavers.
A high percentage of drug abusers are ex-care leavers.
Up to 1 in 4 young females leaving care is pregnant or with child.
Last year alone 20% of all children referred for adoption were not placed, primarily due to a lack of available adoptive families. Last year 10% of all children in Wales with an adoption plan were placed for adoption by St. David’s approved families. (The Society is one of 25 adoption agencies in Wales).
The children we place for adoption are amongst the most neglected in society. They are children who have lost everything. We rely on your generosity to continue to provide high quality support services to these children, work that is so vital in ensuring placement success.
Thank you for the part all of you have played in making such a very positive difference to the lives of so many children.
Yours sincerely,
Gerry Cooney
Chief Executive.
CHARITY DAY PREVIEW
June 20th will see in the first-ever O'Shea Sport Charity Day. Looking to raise as much money as possible, the current target is a conservative £1,000, but that is alterable. We will have memebers of the site spread throughout Europe and the World doing things so that you'll give your money to a good cause.
We have me, Dominic O'Shea, in Paris, and I'll be collaborating with our Podcast members amongst others to raise money. Some of the things we will be doing include:-
PARIS
Ok, so we have 3 days of fundraising and I need everyone's help. Be it donating, cajoling, cheerleading, taking bets, drinking, or just being present - it would be great to get everyone and I mean everyone involved.
THURSDAY JUNE 18th - Sports Quiz at the Bombardier 21h00 - 1 euro entry and prizes include bottles of champagne, a round of drinks etc etc. Should be pretty competitive!!
FRIDAY JUNE 19th - The race accross Paris. Get your bets ready - We will be starting in the East and finishing in the West - making sure photos are taken at the given checkpoints. Take part in the race, or bet on which mode of transport is going to win - Bike, Car, Metro or Bus - The grandstand finish will be at the Pantheon and the Bombardier for some cheap after-race drinks...
SATURDAY JUNE 20th - Charity Football Match in Vincennes - a Dom O'Shea XI takes on a Tankards League XI with a couple of football-based celebrities thrown in. To play is 10euros, all of which goes towards the funds, and the players get to keep their shirts and sup on a cold beer after the match. Come and watch for 1euro!
Also that evening, the after-match party will be held at the Bombardier pub, (2, Place du Pantheon, Paris) - where the proceeds of a beer for the night will also be going towards our grand total.
Please bring friends, drink beer and be merry!!! Come and get involved in as much as you possibly can.
Thank you for your support. Get involved!!!
SOUTH AFRICA
We have Tom Clee of 'Tom's Take' covering the British Lions' tour of South Africa, so we thought, how can he contribute? Bungee jumps were mooted as was the concept of Rap jumping, whatever the hell that is. Instead, we settled on shark diving - and there will be a photo of Tom handing an O'Shea Sport business card to Jaws himself, who will hopefully later log on to the site to check out said photo. Please sponsor the man's life below via Paypal, or contact us at osheasport@gmail.com to make a donation via another method.
Donations
Click below to donate as much or as little to our causes as possible. We will be doing everything we can leading up to and on the day to raise money, so if you can't get involved in person, please throw a bit of money our way and help push our total through the roof....
There will be several charities that will be benefiting from our efforts on June 20th.
The first of those is St. David's Children Society - It's approved as an adoption agency by the Care Standards Inspectorate for Wales Established in 1947, St David's Children Society is the oldest and longest serving adoption agency in Wales. In these past sixty years, the Society has placed nearly 2,000 children for adoption.
It's a great cause and one which is close to my heart in particular. http://www.stdavidscs.org/ for further details.
We have the Craig Bellamy Foundation. A much maligned footballer, Craig went Sierra Leone and was moved to act. He has set up a Football league and academy, whilst ploughing more than 3/4 of £1million of his own money into the Foundation. Their homepage is http://www.craigbellamyfoundation.org/ .
Please give generously when the time comes.