Fourteen Cork charities are to share in funding of over €440,000 from RTÉ’s Toy Show Appeal, which will benefit over 1.1 million children and families across Ireland.

The RTÉ Toy Show Appeal and the Community Foundation for Ireland has announced that 154 charities across every county of Ireland will receive a share of the €6.6 million raised by last year’s Toy Show audience.

The number of charities benefitting has tripled from 55 last year, and for the first time, at least one project in every county will benefit.

In Cork, five charities have been awarded grants of over €50,000 from the fund.

Nasc Migrant and Refugee Rights Centre has been given €70,000 towards its family reunification project for child refugees arriving into Ireland.

Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland has received €70,000, which will support the training and placement of 25 assistance dogs with 25 families.

Irish Dogs for the Disabled has also received €70,000 to go towards supporting children with physical disabilities.

The Graffiti Theatre Company has been granted €70,000 for a children’s theatre festival to celebrate voices from DEIS schools in Cork.

€50,532 has been donated to Sensational Kids CLG to develop a therapy outreach programme for children with additional needs.

Other Cork based charities and groups that have been granted a share of the Toy Show Fund are The Rainbow Club Cork, The Down Syndrome Centre Cork, Kinsale Community Youth Café, Cobh Youth Services, YANA, North Cork Domestic Violence Project, Beara West Family Resource Centre, Clonakilty Friends of Asylum Seekers, Croom Family Resource Centre, and Love and Care for People.

Toy Show host Ryan Tubridy said the donations will “enrich the lives of children across our island who need it most to give them the support, care, and encouragement that they need”.

Director-General of RTÉ, Dee Forbes said Toy Show viewers “once again responded to the call to give with extraordinary generosity, and those donations will make an enormous difference to the work of so many organisations”.

Chief Executive of the Community Foundation for Ireland, Denise Charlton said that offering support to over 1.1 million lives is an “incredible achievement” that “every viewer in every county should be proud of”.