Charity
The Jonah Project
Five people out of every 10,000 in Ireland are autistic. According to the Irish Society for Autism, there are between 1200 and 2000 children and young adults with autism in Ireland, increasing at a rate of 100 new cases each year. Autism is a neurological condition in which a child is unable to relate to people and everyday situations. It first emerges in early childhood, when the child is first developing social and interpersonal skills. It is also four times more common in boys than girls.
2007 marked Mulligans Pharmacy's 50th year in business. To celebrate their 50th anniversary and to express their thanks for the support they have recieved down through the years they have decided to raise €50,000 for a local charity. The charity they choose was The Jonah Project, an A.B.A. school. "It's an amazing way to celebrate our 50 years in business. Choosing The Jonah Project before any other local charity was an extremely difficult decision. We wanted to support a smaller local charity where we can make a significant and tangible difference because these charities sometimes get lost in society" said Ronan Mulligan.
The Jonah Project is an A.B.A. school, part funded by the Department of Education which provides education for seven children aged four to ten with autism in the Waterford area. The school was created by a goup of parents desperate to provide a suitable education for their children. Some of these parents had already experienced the electic approach used in the schools and felt that A.B.A. was the preferred option.
It has been described as revolutionary school in terms of how it educates autistic children; each child recieves a "one-on-one" tuition. The name Jonah was chosen by the parents "Autism is like a whale, it swallows up our kids and we want them back again". After department funding the project costs in excess of €30,000 a year to run effectively, so the parents are constantly seeking donations. It has been a struggle for the project to continually raise the funding needed.
"We at the Jonah Project are delighted we have been chosen by the Mulligan family for this fundraiser. We are always seeking as much funding as possible to keep our school going and keep providing our children the best education possible" said Siobhan Heffernan. The funds raised will hopefully go toward some added facilities, those that are not within their reach at the moment.
