Two Galway hospital consultants will embark on a novel fundraising drive next week when they begin a 1,000 mile cycle to Russia.
Mr Ken Kaar, a Cork born consultant orthopaedic surgeon at UHG, Merlin Park, and the Bon Secours Hospitals and consultant anaesthetist, Galway man Mr Eugene O’Kelly of the Bon Secours Hospital will start on their journey on Monday to raise funds for a Russian orphanage.
The two doctors will travel on regular racer bikes through Ireland, England, Denmark, Germany and Latvia where they will then cross the Russian border. They aim to complete the trip in two weeks.
They aim to raise in excess of €20,000 for Opochka Orphanage which houses and educates 120 children aged seven to 21 years. The money will go towards completing phase two of refurbishment work on the facility. They are appealing to people to pledge their support to this worthy cause.
“Central funding is barely enough for the day-to-day running of the orphanage which houses and educates 120 children,” explains Mr Kaar. “They get barely enough to subsist. Everything is done on a shoestring. We just need to raise funds. We want our actions to speak louder than words.”
He first became aware of the dilapidated orphanage after visiting the country with his wife in 2008. It had not been renovated since it was built in 1938.
When he returned from Opochka he contacted the chairman of the North Galway Irish Friends of Belarus Group and the director of the Children of Russia Fund. A series of fundraising efforts followed and more than €30,000 was raised to fund the first phase of the refurbishment project.
Nineteen volunteers travelled to Opochka last August headed up by Sean Gavin, the chairman of the North Galway Irish Friends of Belarus group. This year 16 tradesmen and labourers have volunteered their time and energy to the initiative.
Donations can be made to the Irish Friends of Belarus, North Galway Group, Allied Irish Bank, Church Street, Roscommon (Sort code 937142/Account 08083067 ), or to the Children of Russia Fund online at www.mycharity.ie/event/eugene_okellys_event or tinyurl.ie/bike and go to the donations page.
