Employees of insurance group Aviva Ireland who are holding a sponsored sleep out this Friday 10 June in a bid to raise over €30,000 in vital funds to support the work of its charity partner Focus Ireland.
Employees of insurance group Aviva Ireland who are holding a sponsored sleep out this Friday 10 June in a bid to raise over €30,000 in vital funds to support the work of its charity partner Focus Ireland.
Staff at Aviva Ireland recently voted to champion the battle against child homelessness through a new five year partnership with Focus Ireland. The partnership is part of Aviva’s global "Street to School" initiative which aims to improve the lives of 500,000 street children and young people around the world by helping them get off the streets and into education and training.
Aviva’s partnership with Focus Ireland will directly support the charity’s work with over 700 children - and young people under 18 - each year who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless in Ireland. There are up to 5,000 people who are homeless in Ireland at any one time.
The much needed funds raised by the Aviva Ireland sleep out will help to fund Focus Ireland’s life-changing work to combat and prevent homelessness in Ireland. This work includes providing permanent homes and emergency housing for children - and their families – and also vital support services such as its childcare and Afterschool projects.
Focus Ireland also runs a joint street outreach team– managed by Dublin Simon – which sees staff of both organisations go out on the streets together as one team in Dublin every night to link in with people sleeping rough and try to get them into emergency accommodation for the night. Aviva Ireland have committed to match all funds raised by the Aviva Street To School volunteers up to a maximum of €15,000 - bringing the overall fundraising target to over €30,000.
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For further information or interviews, please contact:
Alan Tyrrell
Group Media Relations Manager
Aviva Group Ireland plc
Telephone: +353 (0)1 898 5452
Mobile: +353 (0)86 850 8673
Email: alan.tyrrell@aviva.ie
Notes to editors:
About Aviva Street to School internationally
Aviva plc has launched Aviva Street to School as its new international community investment programme. This programme aims to improve the lives of thousands of street children and young people around the world by helping them get off the streets and into education and training.
The programme will run for a minimum of five years and will include support for street children projects in the 28 markets that Aviva operates in around the world. Aviva’s businesses around the world will select local charity partners to support the needs of children living or working on the streets in their country. In Ireland Aviva has selected Focus Ireland as its partner for the next five years.