Thirteen-year-old twin sisters - Abi and Ava Galvin - from Ballina, have been keeping themselves busy over the past few months as - along with doing their homework, they have kept themselves entertained by making videos on TikTok - after their Dad Niall Galvin, promised they could get a puppy if the videos reached 100,000 likes.
Since March, they have gone from having 60 followers and 774 likes, to over 1,600 followers and 33,300 likes, with even their granny, Margaret Galvin - following them on TikTok!
Every morning the twins see their mum, Marie Galvin, a coordinator in Western Care, going to work on the frontline to support people with intellectual disabilities who live independently and are supported by Western Care staff.
The twins said: "Since the lockdown began, life has become super hard for them as they cannot do important little things like going for pots of tea or going shopping. Most of them live in rural locations so having a car is their only lifeline at the moment. Western Care does fantastic work for them but they have limited finances for vehicles so we decided we would love to do something useful with our TikTok channel to raise money as having transport is so important in Western Care, now more than ever."
They have set themselves a target of €10,000 to at least try and upgrade one vehicle and plan to do a 24-hour TikTok challenge on the June Bank Holiday weekend, starting at 12 midday on Saturday, May 30 and continuing right through to 12 midday on Sunday, May 31. They will do a different TikTok every hour on the hour for 24 hours non-stop.
The girls said they know it will be hard to keep going through the night, but they really want to do something to help in this difficult time.
You can sign up and follow them and like their videos at @abigalvin on TikTok. You can download the TikTok app on Playstore on your Android or the Appstore on iPhone. You can help them to reach their goal by donating on their Facebook fundraising page “Abi n Ava's 24hr TikTok Challenge for Western Care Association” or on iDonate at www.idonate.ie/24hrTikTokChallenge
