Barretstown continues to deliver therapeutic programmes to children and families affected by serious illness through live online interactive platforms
Barretstown, the children’s charity in Co. Kildare that offers free, specially designed camps and programmes for children and their families living with a serious illness, has launched ‘Barretstown Live’ – a new online interactive platform to livestream Barretstown’s programmes into homes nationwide. These programmes will be delivered every Saturday to families who were due to come to Barretstown and will continue to run for the foreseeable future. In advance of participating in these programmes, families will receive a ‘Barretstown Live’ kit which will contain everything they need to participate.
Barretstown will also share the magic of Barretstown with children across Ireland through Facebook live broadcasts taking place every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 12pm to 2pm, starting today, 24th March. https://www.facebook.com/Barretstown/.
The Barretstown team has created a specially designed studio onsite to deliver these programmes. Participants in both the weekend and weekday programmes will have the opportunity to experience the magic of Barretstown and to participate in many fun activities such as arts and crafts, bakery and discovery from the comfort of their own homes.
Speaking about ‘Barretstown Live’, Dee Ahearn, CEO of Barretstown, said: “Barretstown is doing everything it can to continue to support vulnerable children during this very challenging time. The children Barretstown serves already suffer the effects of isolation due to the impact of a serious illness and the current situation is only making that worse. We need your help to both spread the word about ‘Barretstown Live’ and also to make a donation if possible to support our work as we roll out this new online platform which will allow us to continue to deliver these life changing programmes.”
Last year, Barretstown served over 9,000 campers affected by serious illness and their families. Every year Barretstown needs to raise almost €7 million to deliver our programmes. https://www.barretstown.org/support/donate/
As a result of COVID-19 and in line with government guidelines, Barretstown has postponed all spring programmes at its facility in County Kildare. The safety of Barretstown’s campers, volunteers and staff is always Barretstown’s priority.