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Luke Scollard.
A LOCAL athlete is encouraging people from County Kerry to help raise €200,000 of vital funds throughout May as part of the Special Olympics Ireland annual Collection Day campaign on Friday.
The fundraising target is needed to enable the charity to continue its support of 7,351 children and adults living with an intellectual disability across the island of Ireland.
For the second year running, the annual Collection Day campaign, which culminates on May 28th, will go virtual in response to COVID-19.
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Special Olympics athlete Luke Scollard from Scartaglin is encouraging locals to donate €6 by texting “Sport” to 50300 or by visiting www.cantstopnow.ie to make a donation or to organise a virtual fundraising event.
An athlete at Kerry Stars Special Olympics Club, Luke is a big personality who’s participated in several sports including athletics, basketball, soccer and swimming.
Known for his warm and welcoming personality, Luke was put forward to take part in the club’s athlete leadership programme, which involves encouraging newly recruited athletes to develop skills that will help them lead more independent lives such as money management and public speaking practices, enabling athletes to advocate for themselves.
A natural entrepreneur and skilled fundraiser, Luke has played an integral role in seeking out additional fundraising support for Kerry Stars within his local community.
In 2014, he secured a charity partnership with Castleisland Races and when local athlete Gary O’Sullivan was raising money to travel to the 2019 World Games in Abu Dhabi, Luke pledged his support by helping Gary with various fundraising initiatives.
Luke lives at home with parents Brendan and Lucy and two older brothers, Brian and Barry. Speaking about how the pandemic has impacted his life, he said:
“I’ve missed doing normal things, like meeting my friends from Kerry Stars and catching up with them but I have been able to keep in touch with everyone by using social media. We do lots of video calls and end up chatting for hours, which passes the time.
“I live on a farm, so I’ve been kept busy and concentrating on baking, which I love. It is frustrating not exercising with my friends and other athletes, the club really helps to keep me motivated and enjoy exercise because I’m not doing it on my own, so I can’t wait for us all to be together again.”
With all 292 of the charity’s clubs across Ireland closed due to the pandemic, Special Olympics Ireland has worked diligently to develop new ways to keep its athletes physically and emotionally fit, including operating virtual clubs and developing healthy eating recipes, live workouts and mindfulness techniques.
Collection Day is the charity’s biggest annual fundraising event. The amount raised will enable Special Olympics to support its clubs such as the Kerry Stars Special Olympics Club, by creating the material needed to keep its athletes connected, until is safe for them to meet in person again.
For more information, or to get involved visit or www.cantstopnow.ie follow the organisation on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/SpecialOlympicsIreland, Instagram @specialolympicsireland or on Twitter @SOIreland
Well done Luke
thanks pj