Main pic: Members of the North West 10k committee and benefitting charities at the launch of this year’s event.
As momentum builds towards the 27th North West 10k, one of the charities benefiting this year is a Letterkenny-based childcare charity that has had to turn away hundreds of families in need, due to a lack of space.
The demands for childcare are being strongly felt at the Letterkenny Community Childcare Centre in Lisnenan, where there are over 465 children on the waiting list.
The charity has been selected as one of the beneficiaries of this year’s event alongside Kilmacrennan, Termon, Gartan, Churchill and Trentagh Community First Responders as well as Cara House Family Resource Centre. Since February, the groups have been out in force fundraising together for their individual goals with final events coming up including ‘A Night at the Races’ this Saturday in the Swilly Inn, the Trentagh Tractor Run on Sunday 5th May and a Ladies Night in the Radisson Blu Hotel on May 17th.
More than 100 of the children on the waiting list for Letterkenny Community Childcare Centre are under one year old, with parents wishing to return to work between now and September 2024.
Many families who access the service are low income and depend on childcare to get to work, education and training. The lack of capacity is having a direct impact on local employment, says Eoin Gildea, charity chair.
“We cannot accommodate any more children, nor can any other provider in Letterkenny due to lack of capacity, resulting in families having to defer returning to work, at great cost to them and their employers,” he said.
“All the major international companies in the county are located close to our service, however, we do not have capacity to provide childcare for their employees.”
Emergency cases are also being turned away, Eoin said.“We are the only full day Community Childcare Centre in the town the size of Letterkenny and the only childcare provider in the Ballyraine area. We work with Tusla on Child Protection cases, Surestart assisting families struggling with parenting and SVP for families in crisis,” he said.
“At present we have such a small space that we have to turn away some of these cases.”
There are 180 children aged from 6 months to 12 years attending the centre daily, with 28 staff. The charity is a Centre of Excellence and holds the highest Síolta quality mark from the Dept. of Education.
After 40 years in operation, the time has come to move to a larger premises. A fundraising campaign has been launched to secure over €1.2m to get the project off the ground. The proposed new build is in the region of €2.8m plus €350k for the site.
“Currently we rent facilities from Donegal County Enterprise Business Fund, one building since 2003, the second since 2012,” Eoin explains.
“While we have in the recent past, and currently making attempts as best we can, pressured the Government for funding a move/new premises, we are under no illusion that we will need some help from local fund raising as well as the private sector to make it happen.”
“The new proposed building will allow child care capacity to increase. We have no doubt everyone is aware of the childcare shortage both locally (and nationally). Any additional spaces would have a potential to facilitate more workers’ journeys back to the workforce.We hope you can understand that the project, an absolute necessity for the community, probably won’t happen without the help of people and businesses local to the facility” Mr Gildea said.
The event takes place on Bank Holiday Monday, May 6, in Letterkenny, and has raised a combined €932,000 for almost 40 local causes. People are now being urged to get registered, get training and get the word out to support the Northwest 10k charities of 2024. Online entries at www.njuko.net/nw_10k_2024 where runners and walkers will find all the information required.
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