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22 Oct 2025
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22 Oct 2025
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Damien Murray, Mark White and Adrian Quinn of Ortus in Abbeyleix
A Laois company has launched a cycle fundraiser for Ukraine with all money raised going to UNICEF.
Workers at Abbeyleix business Ortus Managed IT and Cloud are taking turns to cycle on a static exercise bike the distance from their office door to Kyiv, 3117km.
They have launched an online fundraiser called Race for Ukraine but buckets at their feet are already filling fast with generous local donations.
Geraldine Strawbridge explains what motivated them to begin their fundraiser.
"With the devastating events unfolding in Ukraine, we are trying to raise funds for UNICEF and the children affected by war.
"We have static bikes outside our Ortus HQ in Abbeyleix and over the course of the next few days, we'll be taking turns to virtually cycle from our office to Kyiv."
Below: Paul Mahon taking his turn on the bike.
Cian Prendergast is Ortus CEO.
“It’s absolutely heart-breaking watching the news unfold in Ukraine. We all feel so helpless, but as a company we wanted to do something to help raise some much-needed funds for UNICEF and the children that are affected by this needless conflict. We would greatly appreciate if people could donate to this worthy cause and support our fundraising efforts,” he said.
Ortus launched their fundraising effort on Thursday morning, March 3.
They hope to reach a wide audience and raise as much money as they can for UNICEF.
Already they have topped €1,400. See their justgiving fundraiser here to donate.
The online fundraiser will remain open for the month of March.
UNICEF is working across Eastern Ukraine to scale up life-saving programmes for children. This includes transporting safe water to conflict-affected areas, prepositioning health, hygiene and emergency education supplies as close as possible to communities near the line of contact.
Below: Damien Murray, Ellen O’Reilly, Bryan Fitzpatrick, Mark White
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