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The Cork to Galway Cycle has been organised every year, since its inception in 2003, primarily by employees of Pfizer Ireland Pharmaceuticals. There is at least one member of the organising committee on each different Pfizer site in Loughbeg, Ringaskiddy, Shanbally, Little Island & Dublin.
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There has also been a consistent number of non-Pfizer volunteers that have given their services in all, or nearly all seven of the cycles. Each of these volunteers gives freely of their time to arrange the safe and efficient running of the event.
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The Pfizer/ CCPI fundraising group works in partnership with the “Chernobyl Children’s Project International” raising funds and is actively involved in the CCPI building programs. To date we have financially supported the building of Day Care Centres in the Belarussian towns of Zhitkovitchi and Petrikov. We are also active in the execution of the building projects with several colleagues traveling to Belarus on a regular basis to work on the building crews that execute these projects. Because of our close involvement with the projects we fundraise for, we can say with confidence that every cent raised by our supporters of the Cycle goes directly to those it is intended for, I.E. the children of Belarus that are still suffering from the aftermath of the worst nuclear disaster in history.
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We have also financed the purchase of three medical vehicles which are used in the Day Care Centres and other medical facilities in Belarus.
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To date, the Pfizer group has raised over €600,000 for the Chernobyl Children’s Project.
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In 2009 over €175,000 was raised from the cycle and it has become one of the biggest fundraising events for the CCPI.
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The building project we are currently working on and fundraising for is the renovation of the accommodation block of an Adult Mental Institution in a town called Soltonovka in Eastern Belarus. You may wonder why a charity dedicated to children is working in an adult institution; We were working on a long running project in a children’s institution (Vesnova) and got to know many of the residents quite well over the three years we worked there. On our last trip there we noticed that some the older children were missing. When we enquired as to where they were we were told they had been transferred to Soltonovka Adult Mental Asylum as they had outgrown the children’s institution. We paid them a visit and were appalled at the living conditions in the high dependency block. The building structure, though old was still sound but had fallen into disrepair. Rotting timber window frames, faulty heating system and atrocious sanitary conditions. We decided to do a job on it and renovate the building from top to bottom. This project is 50% complete now and will be finished in March 2010. We have further plans to build therapeutic workshops (woodwork and sewing rooms, etc) and outdoor recreational facilities to improve the daily lives of the people there, most of whom will live out there days in this grim establishment. The estimated cost of this renovation is €300k which will be funded completely by the proceeds from this cycling event.
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