TWENTY-SEVEN charities and community groups in Cork’s Lower Harbour and beyond have been announced as the recipients of Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Community Partnership Grant.

The Global life sciences company has announced the organisations who will share the €40,000 fund this year.

Now in its third year, among the deserving local groups are Irish Community Air Ambulance, Down Syndrome Centre Cork, and UCC’s WiSTEM Society.

Part of part of the company’s ‘Making a Difference’ initiative, Thermo Fisher opened the €40,000 fund to local groups who make their communities healthier, cleaner, and safer.

“For the third year running, we have been blown away by the generosity, passion and strong sense of community in the Lower Harbour and we are proud to support them through this funding,” Caroline Barry, operational excellence lead at Thermo Fisher’s campus in Currabinny, said.

“This year’s inspiring recipients for our €40,000 Community Partnership Grant share our mission to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer.

“From Tidy Towns groups keeping their local areas clean to charities and groups providing vital services to enhance the health and well-being across all sectors of society, we are heartened by the knowledge that this year’s grant will be put to use by a myriad of worthy, inspiring causes,” she continued.

Commenting on what the funding means to the organisation, Irish Community Air Ambulance CEO, Micheál Sheridan said that funding like the Thermo Fisher Community Partnership Grant is “vital” to maintaining core services at the charity-run organisation.

“This money will be directed to help the running of our Air Ambulance, which responds to over 500 emergency calls a year and costs up to €1.5million a year to run.

“We also currently have a team of eight Emergency Medical Responders, on-the-ground Volunteer Doctors who respond to an average of 600 emergency calls in rural and hard-to-reach communities across the country each year.

“With funding we are able to provide them with specialised vehicles and medical equipment to be able to respond in local communities,” Mr Sheridan continued.

This year he said the Irish Community Air Ambulance has seen a 70 percent increase in fuel costs for its helicopter and that increased pressure on emergency services nationwide has increased demands on the Irish Community Air Ambulance’s services.

“It is more important than ever that we have the funds we need to ensure people in distress get the help they need, when they need it,” he said.

Other groups to benefit from the fund include Carrigaline Educate Together National School, Cork Deaf Association and Shanbally Tidy Towns.