Foróige group win trip to Camino
ISLANDEADY Senior Foróige Club have received exciting news - next June they will be travelling to Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago.
This once in a lifetime opportunity is being funded through a Foróige project. In order to enter the competition they had to make a video which explained why they should be chosen to go, how the members of the club would benefit from the trip and how their community would benefit from them going.
The group came up with the slogan 'Croagh 2 Camino 2017', based on the idea that their local heritage walk, the Croagh Patrick Heritage Trail, is actually quite similar to the Camino.
The slogan and their logo, the Camino emblem (the scallop shell) on top of Croagh Patrick, was printed on t-shirts and worn by the members throughout their project, while filming their video.
They got support from many people in the locality including Sr. Maureen Lally, Croagh Patrick Heritage Trail, Caramel Austen, Brendan Sammon and William Igoe who spoke to them about how they could join up the Islandeady loop walks with the Croagh Patrick Heritage Trail and bring back development ideas from the Camino.
The group decided that if they won the trip to the Camino they would fundraise for the Islandeady Wednesday Group, a group of elderly people in their community. This project also involved a lot of research about the Camino.
One of the members, Evan Doyle, produced the video. They climbed Croagh Patrick on a wet, windy day to try and identify with the pilgrims who walk the Camino.
When the results were announced the group were ecstatic with the news. Islandeady Foróige leader, Noreen Coyne, said: “We are still soaking the fantastic news of this once in a lifetime opportunity. I am so proud to be a Foróige leader with this amazing group of young people. The enthusiasm and teamwork which they showed in completing the video for this project, and throughout the past four years in the club, makes them so worthy of such an incredible trip.
“I know this very special group of teenagers will absolutely use the opportunity to benefit themselves, and their community, in the future, as they have already proven in their community projects to date.”
Now the group is preparing for the trip, both physically and mentally. They would like to thank everyone who helped and supported them so far. They will be seeking further support in their fundraising efforts for the community project. And most of all, thanks to Noreen Coyne, Conal Sadler, Niall Joyce and Elaine Gallagher, their leaders, for all of their hard work and dedication over the past few weeks.