Brothers raise thousands for frontline heroes
When two young Irish brothers created a Facebook post featuring frontline workers as superheroes, they could not have known they would be the inspiration for a special initiative that will enable the people of Ireland to thank frontline heroes in healthcare.
In March, five-year-old Senan and seven-year-old Jonah posted a picture of ‘superhero potatoes’ to share their message about frontline heroes on Facebook using their illustrated slogan – “Not All Heroes Wear Capes”.
Their mum, Ruth Brady shared, “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.”
Their project prompted local potato farmer Tom Keogh of Keogh’s Farm to put his thinking cap on. He revealed that, “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 Keogh continued, “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.”
Tom explains, “Leo gave us the slogan and our logo was drawn by Senan and Jonah. We’ve set a goal to get 5,000 special ‘IrelandThanksYou’ 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.”
The IrelandThanksYou special edition cards are to be supplied by One4All.
So, how do you get involved?
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 shared: “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.”
“The colour of the T-Shirt is really significant, it’s a scrubs blue and we ask people to wear and share #wearblue to send a message to our frontliners and help spread the word from the safety of their home.”
For more information, you can visit www.irelandthanksyou.ie