8 February 2020
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
HEINEKEN Ireland Colleagues John Kelly, Kieran Brennan, Jer O’Callaghan and Peter Furlong alongside Sina Engelke, HR director presented Darran Coyle Garde, Fundraising and Advocacy Officer at Pieta House with a cheque for €27,672.78 to help with their critical life-saving work.
The donation is the result of an epic fundraiser which saw colleagues Peter Furlong, Jer O’Callaghan and Kieran Brennan cycle nearly 1,000km from HEINEKEN Ireland’s Leitrim Street brewery in Cork to the global home of HEINEKEN in Amsterdam. In a bid to raise vital funds for Pieta House and to raise mental health awareness amongst their family and colleagues.
This fundraiser was supported by HEINEKEN Ireland’s Growing with Our Communities programme; this programme saw HEINEKEN Ireland raise over half a million Euro for local good causes in 2019.
Speaking at the official donation ceremony, HEINEKEN Ireland HR Director, Sina Engelke said:
“We are extremely proud of our colleagues achievement, they acted as wonderful ambassadors for the kind of ambition and positive spirit we aim for through our Growing with our Communities programme. The challenge of cycling 845km, both physically and mentally, was such a brave thing to do for such a noble cause. They truly pushed themselves beyond their limits to raise awareness and help break the stigma around mental health. We are committed to further build on what these guys have started as part of our own company wellbeing strategy.”
Kieran Brady, Director of Funding & Advocacy, Pieta House said:
“We are extremely grateful to the three HEINEKEN Ireland employees, Peter, Kieran and Jer for their tremendous support and endurance, it’s a gruelling physical challenge to cycle that distance. For Pieta House it costs approximately €1,000 to bring one person through our service. The funds received from HEINEKEN Irelands ‘Growing with our Communities’ programme will go a long way to helping us provide our nationwide services which are free of charge and freely available therapeutic services to people who are in suicidal distress and those who engage in self-harm”.
