The Brady brothers' Mum, Ruth Brady shares, “We had a family chat about what really makes a superhero and Senan said ‘Mum, it’s the people who defeat the virus’. Jonah made a list of people who really help people and they created their little frontline potato scene. We are so touched that a little arts and crafts at home to while away the hours has turned into something really positive and special.”
Tom Keogh was inspired: ‘If two young Irish boys can share such a meaningful message surely we, as a nation, can send an equally powerful message to our frontline heroes – simply say ‘thank you’.'
Tom continues, ‘Like many, I have close family and friends who have suddenly found themselves on our frontlines, fighting for us in this invisible war against Covid 19. These Frontline heroes in the healthcare system go to work, day in day out, putting themselves - and even worse, their own loved ones in constant danger of infection. In these unprecedented times, I realised there was no means for people who want to thank our heroes to do so. So #IrelandThanksYou was born.’
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Brothers Senan Aged (5) and Jonah (7) Raise Thousands of Euros to Say ‘Thank You’ to our Frontline Healthcare Heroes[/caption]
Tom explains, ‘Leo gave us the slogan and our logo (seen on the t-shirts above) was drawn by Senan and Jonah. We’ve set a goal to get 5,000 special ‘IrelandThanksYou’ One4all gift cards to the value of €100 to 5,000 frontline heroes in healthcare. That means €500K to create 5,000 ‘Thank You's’. We’ve set the bar high, but I believe that Irish sentiment will match this. It’s a big number, maybe we will - maybe we won’t - but at least we tried.’
People can simply visit www.irelandthanksyou.ie to donate to the fund to say ‘thank you’. For every €25 donation, the person donating receives a free T-Shirt in a scrubs blue. All donations go directly to frontline workers in healthcare. Irish businesses are kindly joining forces to pay for the costs associated with the T-Shirts and all parties who created the campaign volunteered their time.
Who receives a thank you? Tom continues, ‘As Senan and Jonah illustrated, these heroes don’t wear capes and they don’t fly. They may be a nurse, a doctor, a speech therapist, physio or support staff, anyone in the frontline in our ICUs and Covid wards healthcare system.’
Head to irelandthanksyou.ie to donate a gift to frontline workers now. Need recipe inspiration for staying at home? Sign up to our Lovin Home Comforts newsletter here.