Laois company leaves little to the imagination with #Dare2Bare fundraiser for little Dan

CJ Sheeran employees are laying it bare in their support of Baby Dan Donoher’s #DoItForDan fundraising campaign.

The good folk over in CJ Sheeran’s, Mountrath have taken the extensive fundraising efforts for the Do it for Dan campaign that has swept the nation in recent weeks to new extremes - all for a truly worthy cause.

Headquartered in Mountrath, Co. Laois and with 6 locations across Ireland, CJ Sheeran’s is Ireland’s largest manufacturer and recycler of timber packaging and pallets, providing a premium quality, sustainable and accredited packaging solution to Ireland and the UK’s diverse network of pallet consumers.

The staff of Sheeran’s have pulled out all the stops - and their clothes - to help get little Dan Donoher the life-saving treatment he requires in America. Their Dare2Bare fundraiser is exactly as it sounds, with staff of all ages and shapes stripping down and baring (nearly) all. 

The CJ Sheeran’s Facebook page has already been awash with eye-catching and provocative photos from around their warehouse in Mountrath featuring some scantily clad employees going about their work. To date, they have raised over €6,000 for little Dan through their efforts - and there’s more scenery still to come as they hit certain targets in this innovative fundraising campaign.

*Browse through the full gallery of Sheeran's staff using the arrows in the top right-hand corner of the main photo above

Ashleigh Doyle, Director at CJS, explained where the idea for the fundraiser came from: "We saw the campaign for Dan and we wanted to get on board and do our part too. Being a big employer in Dan's native Laois, we felt that we had a big reach in terms of our employees, their families, friends and local communities, and also our customers and supplier base. 

"We felt there was a good opportunity for us to spread the word and help the Donoher family reach their mammoth goal of €2 million, so anything that we could do as a business with a large presence in Laois to help out, we wanted to. 

"We saw all the various fundraisers over the last few weeks, but we wanted to do something that was a different, eye-catching and a bit of craic. The lads were brilliant about it and jumped at the opportunity to get involved! We looked for 12 of the guys to volunteer initially and we ended up extending it to 22 and drew the line there. 

"A local photographer, Niamh Ryan from Castletown, came onboard to the photoshoot and we planned out all the scenes the day before to showcase all the areas of the company. Everyone here is just on such a buzz and we're all absolutely delighted to be able to contribute to this truly worthy cause - productivity has gone through the roof this week!"

Dan, the son of Laois footballing greats Niall and Aisling (nee Quigley) Donoher, celebrated his first birthday just three weeks ago. In December of last year, Dan was diagnosed with a rare life-threatening disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Type 1 and Scoliosis.

The rare genetic neuromuscular disease has a life expectancy of 18-24 months. A groundbreaking treatment, Zolgensma, is available in the US but at a cost of 2.1 million dollars for a once-off infusion. The treatment can substantially improve quality of life, and survival rates of this horrific disease.

Almost 75,000 individuals or groups have donated to the Do it for Dan GoFundMe page launched on March 5 to get little Dan the treatment he so richly deserves. On Sunday night just past, April 19, they reached the halfway point of their €2 million goal and have since surpassed the €1.6 million mark.