A group of Cork people who are recovering from addictions have raised €1,850 for the Sexual Violence Centre Cork.

The recovery group, which is called “Hello My Friend” and which meets at Cork Penny Dinners, raised the money through a Three Mountain climb in Kerry.

Paul McCarthy, who is a member of the group, told The Echo they had initially raised €300 and then, over the course of last week, they raised a further €1,550.

The group made a presentation last weekend to Mary Crilly and Dola Twomey of the Sexual Violence Centre Cork.

“With the help of everyone in the group, we got a big push on and we got the figure up to €1,850,” Mr McCarthy said.

He said the group had decided to fundraise for the Sexual Violence Centre in recognition of the great work the centre does.

“We do a lot of fundraising for charity, we’ve raised money for the Cork Life Centre, for the Kabin, we’ve raised money for Anam Croi which is up in Westport, they also help people in recovery, we’ve built some schools in Madagascar, and we’ve done stuff in Belarus for orphanages,” he said.

Ms Crilly said she was overwhelmed by the generosity of the members of the recovery group, and she said the money they had contributed would go toward raising awareness of the work of the Sexual Violence Centre.

“We do have a service level agreement with Tusla and they give us a certain amount of funding for counselling, but they won’t give us a penny for all the awareness-raising of the campaigns, and that’s where the money is going to go,” Ms Crilly said.

“I do think when we get money from anybody, I like them to know where it goes, it’s just being honest with people.”

Mr McCarthy said that thousands of people had passed through the recovery group over the years, but there was a nucleus of 50 or 60 core members which made up a united community.

“We started about two or three years ago, and we do seminars and retreats, and we help people with their heads, because a lot of people go through torture in their heads, their heads are racing, their thoughts are going too fast, so we just show people how to relax their heads,” he said.

“We do walks, mountain-climbing, retreats, talks. Our community is open to all walks of life, it’s free of charge, and if anyone is struggling with their mental health, we would encourage them to get in touch.

“On Instagram, on TikTok, on Facebook, it’s ‘Hello My Friend PMC’, you’ll find us there and we’re open to everyone, so get in touch,” Mr McCarthy said.