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A TRALEE woman has taken it upon herself to organise a fundraising event for the Kerry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre.

“It’s a vital service for the community and they are lacking funds this year so I decided I would give them a helping hand,” said Laura McCarthy.

“I talked about it with my family and I came up with the idea of doing a fundraiser night, as my friend had done something similar before for suicide awareness,”  she said.

“My Mom thought it was a great idea so we went for it!” she added.

The event, being organised by Laura (20) from Manor, is called ‘Giving Something Back’ and will take place Saturday, July 12 in The Meadowlands Hotel.

The night kicks off at 9pm and will feature, a band, spot prizes and karaoke.

Kerry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre is based in Princes Quay just opposite the old Town Council Building and is increasingly finding it difficult to raise money.

“The fact that someone in the public is willing to support the work we do, separate to the staff and volunteers at the Kerry Rape Crisis Centre, means an awful lot to us,” said Vera O’Leary manager of Kerry Rape Crisis Centre.

“We can be so busy providing the services and responding on a daily basis that we often don’t have time to raise those funds,” Vera said.

“Every year we need to raise about 30% of our annual budget which translates to about 60 or 70 thousand euro a year, so it’s getting more difficult in these recessionary times,” said Vera.

“We’re really, very grateful to Laura and her family and friends for doing this for us,” she added.