‘Everyone Matters’ at Rathowen Family Day and Fun Run

On Saturday, June 3, a fun vehicle run took place in Rathowen to raise funds for Longford Counselling Services. Involving trucks, cars and motorbikes, it was held at Feerick’s Hotel. The event was called ‘Everyone Matters’ to highlight how, regardless of what someone might be struggling with, they and their feelings are valid, and help is available.

There was a great turnout and the €4,767 raised exceeded the expectations of the organising committee. “There’s a committee of five of us and when we started this, we said if we got €3,000, we’d be proud of ourselves,” said Janet Ledwith. “So that we got nearly €5,000, we were chuffed to bits.

“We’re all friends. We just said we want to do something, bring a bit of life, bring excitement, bring awareness to the area [of mental health]… and give our locals something, a good day out. Put smiles on people’s faces rather than people going around and worrying and stressing.”

Janette told the Westmeath Examiner that she and the other committee members were delighted with the support they received from local businesses and members of the public. Rather than having to go looking for help, the community rallied around Janet and her colleagues.

“We had people coming from everywhere to offer us help and to donate things. All the local people helped out… Midlands Mascot Hire sent Mickey and Minnie out to us. Two local girls gave us a hand; they did the face painting. Our local Foróige club in Rathowen donated a hamper to us, Feerick’s Hotel was a tremendous support,” said Janet.

Mental health has affected “every family in some way or another, especially over the last few years”. “And we just said, what better cause to do it for than something like that and bring awareness into the area.”

Janet praised Longford Counselling Services for the work they are doing. They treat a broad age range, from teenagers to the elderly, and men in particular have been relying on the service recently. “There’s a group of counsellors down there and they’re all qualified in different areas, and they all use their time voluntarily to be there for people.

“If you have a medical card and you need counselling, you have to wait between 14 and 16 months to get an appointment. If you go private, you have to wait up to three months, and it’s €70 to €120 per session after that. You go to them [Longford Counselling Services], they assess you straight away and they see where you are and what the situation is. And all they ask is that you make some sort of a donation, whatever you can afford, if you can afford it,” said Janet.

As well as the vehicle run, Feerick’s provided food, there was a raffle, face-painting, an appearance from Micky and Minnie, and live music from Joe Cooney, which was “very popular”. The entertainment went on for approximately four hours.

The event had taken five weeks to plan. “There was a lot of hard work in it but it was worth it,” said Janet. Although the organising committee had never done anything like it before, those present were impressed with how well the day went.

“The participants in the run were truly delighted. They said it was very well organised and one of the best and most fun runs they were ever on. We asked for feedback just so we’d know where we were going right and where we were going wrong. And they said that we had everything; it was perfect. It was very well done.

“We didn’t care what way it went once everybody had fun and was safe. That’s all we wanted, and we raised money, and I think we hit all our goals. And we have lots to build on for the future,” said Janet. “We wanted to give a good family fun day, put smiles on people’s faces and that’s what we’ve done. The weather was massive, we couldn’t have asked for any better.”

While the vehicle run won’t become an annual fixture, Janet and the organising committee hope it will return in coming years and they also plan to hold more events in the community. There will be a barbecue at Connaughton’s, Rathowen in July to try to get the figure raised up to €5,000. Details to be confirmed on the ‘Everything Matters’ and Longford Counselling Services Facebook pages.