Gurranabraher Credit Union donates €10k to Life Centre

GURRANABRAHER Credit Union has made its single largest donation ever, allocating €10,000 to Cork Life Centre.

Chairman of the Gurranabraher Credit Union sponsorship and education committee, and former Lord Mayor of Cork, Mick O’Connell, told The Echo the award was in recognition of the great work done by the Life Centre and its director Don O’Leary and staff over the years.

“Gurranabraher Credit Union has a community and sponsorship committee, with a budget in excess of €50,000, and what we do with that is we support community, sporting organisations, and education facilities in the area,” Mr O’Connell said.

“We allocate around 25% of the budget around education and this year is a very special year for the Life Centre, it’s been a tough year for them, and Don, who is a fantastic person, has been doing great work here for nearly 20 years.

“We felt this year, because it’s our 60th anniversary next year, that it would be great for us to support the Life Centre, it’s in our own area, and to acknowledge what they’ve been doing for the kids in our area,” said Mr O’Connell.

“€10,000 is the biggest award that we have ever given in the history of this committee of Gurranabraher Credit Union, and we’re delighted to be able to present this money to the Life Centre.”

The Cork Life Centre, which is based in Sunday’s Well, is an alternative education facility which every year offers one-to-one tuition up to Leaving Certificate to 55 young people for whom mainstream education has not worked.

The Life Centre’s deputy director, Rachel Lucey, said Gurranabraher Credit Union had always been very good to the Life Centre.

“We would have had smaller grants down through the years, which allowed us to do huge things, but this is a massive donation for anyone to give,” Ms Lucey said.

“€10,000 is huge to us, and they were brilliant, they were really open to hearing from us what was the best way to spend it.

“We have four distinct, key areas that it will allow us to work in that will have tangible outcomes.”

The money will be spent upgrading classrooms, developing subjects, the development of a theatre club, and Christmas outreach.