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Pieta House & Laura Lynn House Chosen As Receipients In Toyota Ireland's 'Cars For Good' Programme

Toyota Ireland today announced that Pieta House and Laura Lynn House have been chosen as the first recipients of its new philanthropic ‘Cars for Good’ programme. Both charities will receive a donation of one vehicle each from Toyota Ireland, up to the value of €20,000 each. The cars can be either raffled by the charities as a means of raising funds, or registered for daily use by the charities themselves.

The Toyota Ireland ‘Cars for Good’ initiative allows Toyota Ireland employees to nominate their top 5 Irish charities for inclusion in the programme, and a committee then choses the final two recipients from a short list of five drawn from all the nominated charities.

Pieta House is a non-profit organisation providing a specialised treatment programme for people who have suicidal ideation or who participate in self-harming behaviours. Based at the Children’s Sunshine Home, Laura Lynn House is Ireland’s first children’s hospice and provides highly specialised medical care for children with life limiting conditions as well as support for their families and siblings through a series of group programmes and activities.

Commenting on the programme, David Shannon, Managing Director of Toyota Ireland said: “There are a large number of truly worthy charities across Ireland that are selflessly dedicated to the betterment of the lives of those less fortunate. Raising charitable funds during this tough economic climate is particularly challenging, and our hope is that our ‘Cars for Good’ programme will lend a small helping hand to Pieta House and Laura Lynn House – two thoroughly deserving charities who work tirelessly to help positively impact the lives of others.”

“We’re thrilled to have been chosen as a recipient of Toyota Ireland’s “Cars for Good” programme,” said Joan Freeman, founder and CEO Pieta House. “Pieta House has a proven model of care for suicide intervention and our specially trained therapists are well-equipped to deal with people in crisis. We’re in active discussions with communities around the country to look at the feasibility of setting up new much needed regional centres and this car will certainly help towards fulfilling this aim. I’d like to thank Toyota Ireland for their support and generosity,” she said.

“This is a very generous donation and we will use the car for our Community Paediatric Palliative Care Team. This will enable members of the team to provide support to families within their home more easily. It can sometimes be very traumatic for a child and their family to have to leave their home to access support so this will provide families with greater choices,” said Philomena Dunne, CEO Children's Sunshine Home.