Better Together Winners Announced

02 December 2011

Better Together Campaign Attracts Record 200,000 Online Visitors and Raises €54,000 for Charities in Prizes and Donations

Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, Dublin Cycling Campaign, Irish Deaf Society
and Upstart also Win Better Together Awards

Kilkenny man Eamon Cleere may have woken yesterday morning as an Eamon Cleere accepts Charity Hero Awardordinary man, but last night he went to bed a celebrated hero. Described as a ‘man in a million’, Eamon was last evening named Ireland’s Charity Hero at the prestigious Better Together Awards, which were held at the Convention Centre in Dublin.

Eamon was one of thirty-nine people from across the country nominated for Ireland’sCharity Hero Award, an accolade that celebrates unsung heroes in our communities whohave made an extraordinary contribution to good causes in a voluntary capacity.

Eamon Cleere has certainly made an extraordinary contribution: he has spent the past twenty-five years fundraising for Enable Ireland Kilkenny, during which time he has raised an incredible €1.5 million for the charity. He first became involved with Enable Ireland Kilkenny, which provides day, therapy and family support services for children with disabilities, when his son Eamon Jr. required their services twenty-five years ago.

Eamon said: “It is a labour of love. My wife Margaret and I thought we'd never see our son walk when he was born, but all that changed when we discovered Enable Ireland Kilkenny.The centre has done brilliant work over the years for boys and girls in the region. I decided that it was payback time so I devoted myself to fundraising for facilities at the centre”.

Ireland's Charity Hero Award is just one part of the Better Together campaign, which has been developed by The Wheel, the national representative body for community and voluntary groups, to build support for hundreds of charities and community and voluntary groups across the country.

Launched in October, the Better Together campaign also invited charities, clubs and associations to compete for a combined prize-fund of €20,000, by creating short online videos to showcase their work and attract new supporters, volunteers and donors. With 189 videos submitted to the competition, the top 30 videos were then shortlisted following 70,130 votes from the public. A panel of independent judges then cast their deciding votes, with the winners announced this evening.

The winners of the Online Video Competition, each winning €3,000 were:

Dublin Cycling Campaign
http://www.bettertogether.ie/content/dublin-cycling-campaign-join-us-video

Irish Deaf Society
http://www.bettertogether.ie/content/irish-deaf-society-better-together

Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind
http://www.bettertogether.ie/content/irish-guide-dogs-assistance-dog-programme

The campaign also included a Giving Challenge, which aimed to harness the power of crowds by challenging the participating causes to inspire their supporters to donate to them. The cause that attracted the highest number of unique donors (not the highest value of donations) would win €10,000.

And the winner of the Giving Challenge, winning €10,000 is:

Upstart Arts Collective, attracted 1,013 unique donors to donate to their cause.
http://www.bettertogether.ie/content/upstart-arts-collective

Speaking at the Better Together Awards, Deirdre Garvey, CEO of The Wheel said: “The Better Together campaign has been developed by The Wheel to give charities, community and voluntary groups, whether big or small, an equal platform to tell their story and attract support for their cause. Attracting entries from 189 causes, 200,000 online visits, 97,000 public votes and donations of just under €35,000 from 18 countries, the Awards truly demonstrate the great value of people working together for the common good. Many congratulations to the Better Together Awards winners, our sponsors including Newman's Own Foundation and to everyone who competed and supported the campaign.”

Many other very deserving people were shortlisted for Ireland’s Charity Hero Award, including; John Quinn for Pieta House, Lorraine Dempsey for Special Needs Parents Association, Siobhán Carroll for ACT for Meningitis and football legend Ronnie Whelan for Myasthenia Gravis Association. (For a full list of the ten people shortlisted for the award and to read why they were nominated, see http://www.bettertogether.ie/better-together-2011-shortlists)

The campaign was supported by the Newman’s Own Foundation as part of the Street Level Philanthropy Project and the campaign was endorsed by many of the leading household name charities, including; the Irish Hospice Foundation, Irish Heart Foundation, Focus Ireland, Macra na Feirme, ISPCA and many more.

Other campaign sponsors include; The European Commission/ European Year of Volunteering 2011, Irish Daily Mail, CRAOL, Irish Blood Transfusion Service, The Community Foundation of Ireland, ESRI Ireland, Sponsor.ie and Zozzy TV.