Honey Days to help local Down's Syndrome projects

The Honey Days fundraising campaign for Down's Syndrome Ireland starts this week and volunteers from the Meath and Louth branch of the organisation hope to raise enough funds to keep their local projects going. They will be collecting money on the streets and in the shopping centres of Meath during the month of October, in return for a specially commissioned honey keyring. The number of people with Down's Syndrome in this area is at a record high and over 200 families are now registered with the local branch. According to Christina Quinn of the Louth-Meath brnach, the money raised will help keep the branch's many projects going, as well as supporting the National Resource Centre for Down's Syndrome. More importantly, it will secure the Home Teacher Scheme which is run locally and is fully funded by the Louth-Meath branch. It's one of the most successful services for Down's Syndrome in the country and over 50 children under the age of five are currently working with a team of qualified home teachers to prepare them for school. "We do appreciate that times are difficult at the moment, and following the HSE cut to the grant for the Home Teacher Scheme, we are under added pressure to ensure that the scheme remains secure. We hope that people will, as always, support the Honey Days campaign, which is sponsored by Boyne Valley Honey. "We are extremely busy at the moment because there are so many demands on our services, but most of what we offer depends on the public's generosity. ur costs are high and unfortunately the grant aid we need simply isn't there," added Ms Quinn. She pointed out that every euro raised during Honey Days will make a difference to those with Down's Syndrome. "It can be the difference between going to school or not, having a job or not, living a full life or not. We know that many adults with Down's Syndrome are capable of living independently if they're given the right start and support, yet less than 20 per cent have up to now. Can we really waste all this potential?" she asked.