29 April 2024
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
April is Autism Awareness Month
Pictured: Niall Ruddy, Co-founder My Canine Companion and Nick Arnold, General Manager at Currys Cork with service dogs Polly (aged 6) and Jurgen (aged 4 months) Nick Arnold, General Manager at Currys Cork and Cliona O’Rourke, Co-founder My Canine Companion with service dog Poll
After a hugely successful initial two-year partnership, which has seen €217,000 raised, Currys, Ireland’s leading electrical retailer, has renewed its partnership with Cork based charity My Canine Companion for another two years.
The €217,000 raised so far equates to training for up to 20 service dogs. Currys aims to surpass this over the next two years, aiming to hit €500,000 to help My Canine Companion continue to support autistic children with service dogs.
Since the partnership began in November 2021, it has gone from strength to strength with Currys introducing companywide initiatives including:
- Pennies: Customers can donate €1 to My Canine Companion when they’re making a card transaction in any of the 16 Currys stores nationwide. Currys have to date raised a total of €137,600 from Pennies donations at the tills
- Quiet Hours: From opening until 11am Monday to Friday, the music and screen displays will be turned off across all stores
- Accredited training: Both store and corporate colleagues have received Autism Awareness & Understanding training with the Willow Tree Autism Project
Keith Daly from Currys Ireland commented:
“My Canine Companion provides vital support to autistic children and their families so it’s an honour for Currys to be able to help them continue their important work. Thanks to our dedicated colleagues and loyal customers, we have raised over €217,000 over the past two years. We’re now aiming to reach the target of €500,000 over the next two years. As well as fundraising, we were keen to use the partnership to help those with autism and their families enjoy a more comfortable shopping experience. From launching autism friendly evenings to providing visual and audio additional aids in store, we’re very proud of the work we have done in this area.”
Niall Ruddy from My Canine Companion Ireland said:
“We are thrilled to be extending our partnership with Currys. This partnership has been vital for the charity to continue our life changing work for children with autism. The staff and management team are a pleasure to work with and have made great strides in making their stores autism friendly environments. We are excited to see what the future holds for the partnership. We already know the positive effect it will have on communities throughout Ireland enabling us to provide more service dogs for children with autism and school therapy dogs.”
To donate to support My Canine Companion, visit here.