North Tipperary Hospice Movement campervan draw raises €100,000 for local services

North Tipperary Hospice Movement’s major fundraising draw for a campervan has brought in a whopping €100,000 to the group.

The hospice group sold all 7,995 tickets for a fabulous 5 berth Etrusco campervan. The draw will take place place in Bobby Reidy’s pub in Newtown on Thursday March 31, under the watchful eye of an independent scrutineer.

Paddy Heffernan said that public interest in the draw, which gathered pace in the lead up to Christmas, really took off during January and February resulting in ticket number 7,995 being sold in the early hours of March 1.

“All that remains to be done now is to decide which lucky punter will walk away with the keys to this fantastic prize,” he said.

Mr Heffernan said that Reidys had been chosen as the venue to conduct the draw as Bobby had a well established reputation as a dedicated supporter of North Tipperary Hospice. Proceedings will get underway at around 8pm with the draw going out live on Facebook at approximately 8.30pm.

He said that if you wished to be present for the draw you will be welcome on the night or alternatively you can join in the excitement live on the Facebook and Instagram pages of either North Tipperary Hospice or Winacamper.ie

He said that the hospice movement was grateful to all at Pat Horan Motors who supplied them with the campervan and assisted with ongoing promotion of the project.

The campervan draw is by far the biggest single fundraising project undertaken by North Tipperary Hospice since its foundation over 30 years ago, and while it will result in an impressive profit of approximately €100,000 for the organisation, the reality was that this will only raise around a quarter of the €400,000 needed to fund the essential services provided throughout the county each year – a stark reminder of the enormity of the task facing the committee year on year, said Mr Heffernan.

The committee is hopeful that, with the ending of Covid restrictions, which have decimated fundraising activities over the past two years, “normal” fundraising activities will resume during the year and the public support which has sustained the Hospice through the years will once again be forthcoming.

“We are extremely grateful to everyone who supported this fundraising venture, which gives a major boost to our accounts for 2022. Hopefully we will be able to hold our traditional Sunflower Days on June 10 and 11 with our coffee morning scheduled for mid-September,” he said.

In the meantime, North Tipperary Hospice is encouraging everybody to support the National Daffodil Day in aid of the Irish Cancer Society which takes place this Friday, March 25.