Laois charity to benefit from RTÉ Toy Show Appeal’s grants

A Laois charity, Embrace Farm has been granted €14k in funding from the RTÉ Toy Show Appeal. 

The response from Late Late Toy Show viewers to the appeal will help transform the lives of 1.1 million children, young people and their families in Ireland, with every county on the island benefitting from grants totaling €3.6 million. 

The RTÉ Toy Show Appeal was founded in 2020 and has raised over €21 million for children’s charities to date.

The RTÉ Toy Show Appeal began in 2020,and was inspired by the story of Saoirse Ruane from Kiltullagh Co Galway, who won the hearts of the nation with her appearance on The Late Late Toy Show.

Saoirse sadly passed away in March of this year, and RTÉ Director General Kevin Backhurst today spoke of Saoirse’s enduring legacy with The Toy Show Appeal. 

Embrace Farm is a farming organisation which was founded by Brian and Norma Rohan, a farming family from Shanahoe, County Laois in 2014. Brian and his wife Norma with extended family lost his father Liam Rohan to a sudden farm accident in 2013.

After researching, their aim was to set up a support network for farm families who, like them, have lost a loved one or suffered serious injury in a farming accident.

Embrace FARM obtained its fully charitable status in 2017 and is now fully operational as a not-for-profit organisation, the first of it’s kind for the farming community in Ireland.

The organisation is guided and controlled by a voluntary Board of Directors. This includes representatives from families who have bereaved family members or suffered injuries due to farm accidents, as well as professionals working in the agricultural sector.

The lives of children across Ireland will be improved in multiple ways through 122 RTÉ Toy Show Appeal grants announced today, which were made possible by the generosity of viewers of last November’s Late Late Toy Show.  

Announcing the grants, RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst said: “The RTÉ Toy Show Appeal is one of the most important things that we do as an organisation. We are so grateful for the support of our Late Late Toy Show audience whose generosity has ensured that RTÉ can continue to make a positive difference to the lives of thousands of children, and their families across the island, north and south. Children have always been the inspiration behind the Late Late Toy Show and have, in turn, inspired the RTÉ Toy Show Appeal, not least, Saoirse Ruane who will be remembered as someone who made such a positive and lasting impact on us all. Her memory will live on through the RTÉ Toy Show Appeal and the many young lives that will be transformed.”   

Denise Charlton, chief executive of community foundation Ireland said: “Children’s lives in every county are about to be transformed thanks to the huge generosity of RTÉ Late Late Toy Show viewers and the Toy Show Appeal. Colour, excitement and joy are being introduced into so many young lives including those living with illness and disability. Protection and safety will also be provided to those living with bullying, in violent homes and facing abuse. The Community Foundation is a proud partner of RTÉ in realising the vision of viewers to support children across Ireland.” 

Local projects and organisations in every county of Ireland will receive grants to help with a diverse range of needs including meeting basic needs like food and essentials, disability supports, creativity and play and bereavement support.