Geraldine's mini-marathon fundraiser for Rape Crisis Centre
A WESTPORT-based skincare specialist is to take part in the Mayo mini-marathon with a view to raising €40,000 for the Mayo Rape Crisis Centre, writes Tom Gillespie.
Geraldine Grennan, a victim of abuse herself, is recruiting runners for the May 5 event in Castlebar.
She was shocked to learn there is a six-month waiting list to avail of counselling services at the Mayo Rape Crisis Centre in Castlebar.
Geraldine, the proprietor of Geraldine’s Skincare & Electrolysis Clinic, located at Westport Leisure Park, wants to create a greater awareness of the services available to rape crime victims.
Castlebar native Geraldine said: “There are so many people out there, children and teenagers, who are looking for help. I myself came from a very abusive background so I would be very passionate about their plight.
“If you have gone through a similar situation, you think back where you were, and then you think of the people who are there now and that they have no-one to help them.
“The Mayo Rape Crisis Centre isn’t a service that everyone is aware of. So many people have said to me since I mentioned it ‘oh, I didn’t know there was one’.
“Personally I didn’t know until recently there was one myself. Now because of my own background I want to help somebody that is in the same place where I was. I know what it is like to be alone with no one to turn to. It takes great courage to make that phone call, now only to be told there is a six-month waiting list.
“Abuse isn’t something that goes away in a year or a month or in a phone call. You struggle for a long time with it.”
Geraldine, who has been in the skincare business for the past 17 years, has done fundraising in the past for Childline.
She added: “This year I decided to do something for the Mayo Rape Crisis Centre. I was speaking to its director of services, Loretta McDonagh. While crisis clients are responded to as quickly as possible, they have a six-month waiting list for long-term counselling. Their outreach service in Ballina is full and has a waiting list, while their outreach service in Belmullet had to be suspended due to lack of funding. When she gave me all this information it made me even more passionate about it. I said I would try and raise €10,000, which has now jumped to €40,000.”
Geraldine added: “I am trying to get people on board to do the marathon with me. We have 40 to 50 committed already and we are anxious to get more people on board."
The funds raised will be used to shorten the waiting list in Castlebar and to help support their outreach services in Ballina and Belmullet.
She emphasised: “Everybody is fundraising for cancer and mental health which is great but there are people who are suffering out there that nobody knows about. It is hidden and people have come on to me on photo media already because I have been doing Instagram and they have been messaging me and saying where they are. They are starting to be able to relate to me.
“It took a long time for me to open up about it. That was 30 years ago since I was abused and it went on for a number of years. I did not open up about it for years.”
Geraldine has started the fundraising drive and has other salons around Castlebar, Ballinrobe and Westport collaborating with her in selling fundraising tickers.
She concluded: “We raised €400 here in the salon in the first two weeks. As well as the marathon we have others fundraising events lined up, with a big event at the end of the year.
“I have never ran in my life but I am setting a challenge for myself to do the marathon, raising funds and awareness of Mayo Rape Crisis Centre.”
* Sponsorship cards for those to walk, jog or run in the mini-marathon are available from Geraldine on (098) 50990 or (087) 9781085.