“Change for Charity”

“Change for Charity”
is launched by Norma Smurfit, Keith Duffy and Mary Kennedy.

Based on the Central Bank’s rounding initiative which took place earlier this year in Wexford to reduce the number of 1c and 2c coins in circulation, “Change for Charity” is a campaign which is asking the public to donate as many of these coins as possible to help support a number of Irish charities.

The campaign is aimed at every demographic across the country from School Children to Corporate CEO’s – everyone has jars, boxes and bottles filled with these coins in their homes and offices and we want them to put them to good use.
Collection units will be located in selected retail outlets, banks and schools nationwide for everyone to bring their coins to.
The campaign will be run and managed by the umbrella charity fund, “Irish Famine Commemoration Fund” which was founded by Norma Smurfit and has been supporting Irish charities for over 30 years.

The profits of the campaign will be divided 6 ways – equally to the 5 selected charities: Irish Heart Foundation, Society of St Vincent de Paul, St Francis and Our Lady’s Hospices, Gaisce – The President’s Awards and Irish Autism Action with the 6th strand of income to be reserved for smaller charities, community projects, and youth groups who would like to apply for smaller amounts of funding at the end of the campaign.

Already, the campaign has garnered huge support from retailers including Penney’s, Supermacs, Supervalu, O’Brien’s Cafe’s, The Bagel Factory, Bank of Ireland, AIB and many more.
Retailers and schools can still register with us if they would like to participate in the campaign.
A number of familiar faces will be lining up to support the campaign including Nationwide’s Mary Kennedy, Keith Duffy, Paddy Wallace, Brendan Gleeson and Today FM’s Ian Dempsey.

A major online campaign will run in conjunction with the mainstream advertising campaign where school children and members of the public will be encouraged to get creative with the coins they collect and we’ll post images of the weird and wonderful things they come up with. Already one school is attempting to engineer an Eifel Tower of coins! Let the madness begin!!

Further Information is available at: www.changeforcharity.ie