GOAL Jersey Day

A quick note to mention that the final total collected by staff and students of NCI was €300 - a great total raised for water and sanitation facilities for schools in Calcutta in India. I also note that our photo made it onto the GOAL website along with lots of other fund raisers. Irish rugby international Jamie Heaslip is a patron of GOAL, and he shows in the following video what the money we raised will be used for:

I had great fun doing this and hope to push it again next year in the College - a final thanks to all for their generous contributions.

GOAL Jersey Day at NCI

Today staff and students of the National College of Ireland took part in GOAL's Jersey Day to raise funds for water and sanitation facilities in schools in Kolkata, India. 

Donegal, Dublin, Meath, Manchester United,
Wicklow, and Doncaster Rovers at GOAL Jersey Day.

We had lots of GAA jerseys, with my own Wicklow jersey attracting quite a bit of attention (and slagging too!). Dublin, Kerry, Tyrone, Tipperary, Donegal, Meath, Cavan, Kildare - were all represented. There were a few rugby jerseys - Ireland, Munster, and Leinster featuring. Soccer also featured strongly - Manchester United and Liverpool were dominant, but I also saw jerseys from Barcelona, Pachuca (Mexico) Wolves, Middlesborough, Doncaster Rovers, and of course my own Preston North End jersey which I wore in the afternoon.

Lot's of us had fun with our jerseys and of course there was a lot of banter and friendly rivalry. A great splash of colour  in the office today - we'll have to do it again next year.

In total we raised €292.66 - thanks to all for their generosity for this worthy cause.

GOAL Jersey Day - 7th October

I've done something at the College today that I have not done before - I have launched a charity event in the hope of raising funds for GOAL's appeal for donations to help with water and sanitation programmes for schools. The idea is a simple one - wear your favourite sports jersey to work and donate €2 to GOAL for the privilege of doing so. GOAL Jersey Day is on 7th October next. Lots of schools and work places do this - I think it's a first for NCI?

Image link to Goal.ie.

It started out as a simple mention by me in a conversation "GOAL Jersey Day - that sounds like a good idea, we should do this" - but then I had to follow up. I contacted GOAL and they were obviously very willing for NCI to participate in the event - they are sending out posters and collection boxes. While the number of staff in NCI is quite small (just over 100), the Student's Union are also involved. With a bit of luck we should collect a handsome sum for GOAL.

I plan to wear two jerseys on the day (that will cost me €4!) - in the morning I will wear my Wicklow GAA jersey, and switch to my Preston North End jersey for the afternoon. I'm hoping that as many staff as possible with wear their jersey on the day - those that don't will still be pushed for a donation. This should also add a dash of colour around the place, and should also reveal the inner passions of my colleagues for their favourite teams!