A NEW indoor activity space catering for families of children with serious illness has been opened at Barretstown.
The €1.5 million centre was funded from philanthropic donations and was opened by Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald yesterday.
Established in 1994, Barretstown is a Kildare-based camp designed for children and their families who have been through a serious illness.
Barretstown works to assist in the recovery process through activity-based therapy.
The centre was partially funded by a bequest from Barretstown board member, the late Jim McNaughton, with the specific condition that the money be invested in a multipurpose activity centre.
Mr McNaughton, the founder of TileStyle, died five years ago.
The project received additional support from a number of donors, most notably New York-based hotelier John Fitzpatrick through the Eithne and Paddy Fitzpatrick Memorial Fund, named after his parents.
Mr Fitzpatrick, who was at the unveiling yesterday, said he had been involved with Barretstown for the last 10 years.
He said the problem with the centre had been that so much of it was outdoors and was exposed to inclement weather conditions. That issue had now been resolved, he explained. “It can now be used by children all year around and that’s the biggest thing.”
Mr Fitzpatrick, who owns two well-known hotels in New York city, has raised €1.5 million over the past 20 years for charitable causes. He has given €100,000 to Barretstown for the building of the wing. “This is one of my favourites. The next thing is to kit it out because they are tight for cash,” he said.
