SOSAD Laois accept €20,000 on behalf of national suicide prevention charity

SOSAD Laois, a local branch of the Irish suicide prevention charity SOSAD Ireland Save Our Sons and Daughters, has accepted a huge cheque fundraised from the longest truck run in Ireland this year.

The Light Up The Night truck run involved 131 trucks and vans that left the Midlands in darkness at 3am on April 20, and drove in convoy all the way to Cork, a trip of 220km.

Starting in Edenderry in Offaly, they got to Kanturk at 8.15, after stopping at Treacy's Bar in Laois and Barak Obama Plaza along the way. More and more trucks joined in along the route, ending with a big celebration and raffle in Cork.

Light Up the Night Edenderry to Kanturk in progress. 

The Laois SOSAD in Portlaoise is one of seven centres run by the volunteer charity, giving free professional counselling to anyone in crisis, to share in the €20,000 gift. They rely on donations as they do not receive any national funding.

A final €6369 raised from the run was donated to Limerick Treaty Suicide Prevention.

The nationwide drive from darkness into dawn was the idea of Edenderry trucker Paul Cocoman and his friends, Stephen Dillon, Kevin Corcoran and Ryan Monaghan all from Edenderry and Don Curtin from Cork.

Paul told the Leinster Express / Laois Live why they did it.

"We wanted to do something for charity. Friends recommended SOSAD as a charity to support. We could see that they work hard and don't have any funding," he said.

Truck driving can be hard on mental health he said.

"It can be very lonely in your cab all day. Your mind can go in different directions. On the day it was fantastic, from start to finish, we were chatting along the way, there was a great buzz about it," he said.

Shirley McKay, coordinator of SOSAD Laois accepted the generous cheque, during a night of celebration at Maggie Mays pub Portlaoise.

"This money will be spent on day to day running of the organisation. These donations are what keep our doors open to provide life saving services in our communities. 

"We were absolutely astounded at the amount raised and ever so thankful to Paul and the team behind him, it's absolutely fantastic.

"On behalf of SOSAD Ireland I sincerely thank all who helped to organise and sponsor it, including David Cleggs in Portlaoise who sponsored the t-shirts, and all the drivers and all who donated," Shirley said.

So successful was the run, that it is now hoped to become an annual event. 

The organisers are selling remaining Light Up The Night t-shirts, hats and hoodies at the Waterford Truck Show this weekend.