Progressive 25 card players from three counties united in Drum Community Hall, Summerhill, Athlone, in recent times to raise funds for earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria.
The card drive was jointly organised by Progressive 25 groups from Johnstown (Roscommon - Vinnie Brady coordinator ), Curraghboy (Roscommon - Seamus McHugh coordinator ), Ballinahown (Westmeath – Kathleen Finnan coordinator ), Rosemount (Westmeath – Simon Boland coordinator ) and Belmont (Offaly Francis Boylan coordinator ).
The event was a huge success with a total of 27 tables and 162 players taking part. As well as prizes for the event itself, there was a vast selection of spot prizes kindly donated by local businesses and people.
A cheque for €6372 was presented to Mark Mellett of Oxfam Ireland at the Progressive 25 game in Johnstown on June 5. Mr Mellett gave a very interesting talk to the group, explaining the plight of the poorest victims of the earthquake in Syria and Turkey. He explained that all of the money will go directly to the earthquake victims and described how the money will be used to restore water services and provide essentials to the earthquake victims.
The organisers would like to thank the members of the five Progressive 25 groups, all the businesses and private individuals that donated to the appeal and who supplied spot prizes for the night.
They would also like to thank Sarah Seery, Maureen Duffy and Fr Tom Bardon who sold tickets for the event but could not attend the presentation. In addition, a huge thank you goes out to the people who volunteered on the night to help at the event.
