Christmas FM, the official soundtrack to the festive season, is delighted to announce Barnardos, Ireland’s leading children’s charity, as the official charity partner for 2021. Christmas FM is aiming to raise over €250,000 which will go directly towards Barnardos’ mission of working to give vulnerable children living in disadvantaged communities a better chance – because childhood lasts a lifetime.
Listener donations raised for Barnardos will be used to provide targeted and intensive support for over 5,000 children most in need – providing nutritious food, support with education, and therapeutic services with their trained support teams.
Barnardos is a trauma informed organisation working directly with about 18,000 children and their families every year across its 45 projects. Their aim is to deliver services and work with families, communities, and partners to transform the lives of vulnerable children who are affected by adverse childhood experiences.
Christmas FM will be celebrating its 14th year on air this year when it launches on FM in November and, since it began broadcasting, has raised over €2.7 million for a range of charities.
Garvan Rigby, co-founder of Christmas FM, says: ‘We have experienced the most unprecedented era in our lifetime over the past 18 months, and the children that Barnardos work with have felt this pressure acutely. Barnardos is a very special organisation who, now more than ever, need our help and we are delighted to be partnering with them for Christmas this year. Christmas FM creates a feel-good festive factor and brings people together when they’ve been apart for so long while broadcasting a unique and unrivalled service. We look forward to sharing that with everyone at Barnardos – staff, volunteers and, of course, all of the children who avail of its wonderful service. As sponsorship pays the running costs of the radio station, this means that all listener donations can go directly to Barnardos.”
Commenting on the Charity Partnership, Suzanne Connolly, CEO of Barnardos, says: “We are delighted to have been chosen as this year’s Christmas FM charity partner, so that we can share more about the impact of our work and raise vital funds to help us continue supporting children most in need. With the help of Christmas FM listeners, we hope to raise money to ensure we can provide nutritious meals to children in our centres, that we can continue to support them in their educational, physical and emotional development and that our specially trained teams can offer targeted therapeutic support to those who need it most. You can help us transform the lives of vulnerable children all across Ireland. Our gift of childhood partnership with Christmas FM, with your support, can make a difference.”
About Barnardos
Barnardos’ mission is to deliver services and work with families, communities, and its partners to transform the lives of vulnerable children who are affected by adverse childhood experiences such as abuse, parental mental health, neglect, family separation or bereavement. Because childhood lasts a lifetime. For more information about Barnardos vital work go to barnardos.ie
About Christmas FM
Christmas FM plays round-the-clock Christmas tunes, spreading an abundance of festive cheer and seasonal goodwill every single day in the run up to Christmas. Broadcasting almost nationwide, Christmas FM is listened to by nearly one in three adults. The costs of running Christmas FM are covered by various sponsors, ensuring listener donations go directly to the charity partner. The station is run each year by a core management team, assisted by more than 100 volunteers who devote hundreds of hours of their time.
Christmas FM will launch in November. Listen online at christmasfm.com
