Bereavement charity Anam Cara have launched the #Daddyandme campaign with the help of two renowned authors for Father’s Day 2018.
This is the fourth year of the campaign designed to bring awareness of Parental and Sibling Bereavement by the charity which was first established in Donegal.
The fundraising campaign involves people celebrating or commemorating their fathers on social media by sharing a photo from a special memory #AnamCara and #Daddyandme. By texting the word REMEMBER to 50300 you can donate €2 to Anam Cara’s supports for parents and families.
Irish authors Peter Sheridan and Benji Bennett have shown their support to the campaign this year.
Peter Sheridan who lost his younger brother Frankie with a brain tumour in December 1966, with Benji Bennett, author of the popular Adam’s Cloud children’s book who lost his young son Adam in 2007.
“My younger brother Frankie was diagnosed with a brain tumour in December, 1966,” says playwright and director Peter Sheridan. “On April 17th, 1967, Frankie lost his battle and our family was plunged into darkness.
“For twenty years I carried Frankie inside me and nursed him there. I didn’t talk about him. I remembered him all the time but didn’t speak his name in public. I felt that if I mentioned him in front of my parents I would just fall apart and die. It took me over twenty years to face the reality that I wasn’t responsible for Frankie’s death.”
Peter was speaking at the launch of #Daddyandme, an awareness-raising campaign for the organisation Anam Cara, which provides a range of support services to parents and families after the death of a son or daughter, including monthly meetings in the Radisson Blu Hotel in Letterkenny.
“My father went to bed for a year after Frankie’s death. He couldn’t go to work. Or even get out of the bed.
“It’s so important to support organisations like Anam Cara. A father’s grief is something we don’t talk about. With Father’s Day coming up I think about what it might have meant to my own dad to meet other bereaved dads through Anam Cara.”
Also supporting the #Daddyandme campaign is Benji Bennett, author of the popular Adam’s Cloud children’s books.
“Like all bereaved dads I welcome every opportunity to remember and celebrate my child. And that’s part of what Anam Cara offers – it gives bereaved parents a space to come together and support each other.”
Benji’s young son Adam died in 2007. “Adam was only here a short time”, says Benji, “but he gave us so much love.”
“The idea with the #Daddyandme campaign is that it gives us bereaved dads an excuse to put up special photos with our son or daughter on social media. The reaction is amazing, to then read the comments that friends and family leave, with their own memories of Adam.”
Chair of Anam Cara, John Hynes
Chair of Anam Cara, John Hynes, continued: “This campaign is also for the general public, for anyone who would like to celebrate or commemorate their dads in the run-up to Father’s Day on June 17th. All you have to do is share on social media a special photo with your father, or if you’re a father with your son or daughter. We’re asking people to nominate three friends and to tag #AnamCara and #Daddyandme.
“By texting the word REMEMBER to 50300 you can donate €2 to Anam Cara. All of these funds will go directly towards our face-to-face support services for bereaved parents and their families, which take place throughout Ireland.”
For more information on Anam Cara, see anamcara.ie or call their head office on 01 404 5378.
How Can You Get Involved?
- Share a picture of you and your Dad – or if you’re a Dad, you and your son or daughter – on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and include the hashtag #Daddyandme. The photo could be a recently taken selfie or a favourite one from the archives
- Tag and nominate three friends or companies to do the same
- Donate and include the following text information in your post or tweet – ‘Text REMEMBER to 50300 to donate €2 to Anam Cara’*
* Text costs €2. Anam Cara will receive a minimum of €1.63. Service Provider: LIKECHARITY. Helpline: 076 6805278.
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