Our Work
Our story begins in 2017. As a family we had decided that we wanted to celebrate Cathy’s memory by making a positive impact in some way and helping people in less fortunate communities. A great idea in theory, but how on earth should we get started?
Around this time, Eddy happened to be at an event where Maureen Forrest from the Hope Foundation was speaking about the work carried out by Hope in India and it struck him that helping little children who were living in dire circumstances was exactly the right thing for us to do in Cathy’s memory. This was the beginning of the Cathy O’Shaughnessy Hope Fund which we later developed into the Cathy O’Shaughnessy Hope Creche.
The Journey So Far..
2025
Local support continues in Charleville with the Mens Shed having a fundraiser for the creche as well as support from KM Financial and North Cork solicitors.
March 2024
Eddy makes his annual trip and meets some past pupils who are making great progress in big school, all with career aspirations for their futures.
November 2023
Sam gets involved with the fundraising efforts, doing his first sponsored run.
Over the year we’ve had so many positive stories of how attending the creche has impacted the lives of the children as they progress on to further education.
The creche gets a makeover for the new year, with beautiful new colours and vibrant pictures to bring smiles to little faces.
February 2023
Eddy returned to Kolkata with a suitcase full of toys for the children, thanks to Cathy’s grandchildren Sam and Chloe.
December 2022
We launched our Sponsor a Child campaign which has been fundamental to ensuring regular funds for the ongoing operation of the creche.
June 2022
The Creche finally reopened fully and resumed normal operations.
2020
The Covid Pandemic hit India and sadly we had to close our doors for a while. Hope Foundation staff on the ground in Chitpur quickly recognised that the building could be temporarily used as a distribution centre for food parcels for the families of our students and others in the area who were devastated by the restricted access to work, earnings and basic supplies.
The funding that normally went to run the Creche were diverted to supply every family who used the Creche with regular food parcels , until the shutdown was over.
Throughout the year the creche reopened for short periods with social distancing and small groups attending for an hour or so each day. There were many closures and the staff had to revert to operating as a relief centre for the local community for much of 2020 and 2021.
Late 2019
One of our best supporters Katie Holly kindly donated proceeds from another of her productions in Charleville, The Rising Tide.
October 2019
Our project moved to the new location in the Chitpur Slum, where the Cathy O’Shaughnessy Creche could have a longer term presence. A big refurbishment was needed to bring the building up to standard for its new pupils and teachers.
April 2019
Eddy made the trip to Kolkata to visit the Creche and meet all the wonderful teachers and Hope staff as well as all the little students.
February 2019
Chris Bently and Dan Groves hosted a Fight Night event in Tralee where €2,760 was raised for the creche.
December 2018
The first Cathy O’Shaughnessy Creche opened its doors in Panchanantala slum, welcoming 47 small girls and boys on their journey to a better future. The estimated cost of running this facility for the year would be close to €11,000. This was a temporary project that we could support until we were able to establish a longer term location.
Late 2018
More fantastic fundraising events took place including the local Garda Community Cup Soccer Tournament, the Entrepreneurial Leadership Event in Limerick and more support from the Glen Wren and Dave O’Brien.
May 2018
Eddy and Gemma made the first trip over to Kolkata to visit some of the Hope Foundation projects and see the funds put to good use.
Early 2018
We had lots of local support in Charleville and fundraisers including the Glen Wren, Katie Holly’s The Flowing Tide and a Dave O’Brien speaking event contributed to our funds.
July 2017
The Cathy O’Shaughnessy Hope Fund was officially launched at Geary’s Bar, Charleville. €14,000 in funds raised were donated to the Gariahat Naba Asha Childrens Home in Kolkata.