PRESS RELEASE dated 21st JULY 2011

Lions Clubs unite to buy Speech Generating Computer

At last, Aoife the very brave little girl who is a pupil at St. Michael’s House Special National School, Baldoyle, can start developing her communication skills. Her €20,000 Speech Generating Device has arrived. She is clever and bright, always cheerful and is the life and soul of the class but because she has cerebral palsy she cannot speak and often has difficulty in communicating her needs. So she must rely on adults to guess what her needs are.

But that’s all in the past. Thanks to her new ‘MyTobii’ Speech Generating Device she will soon be able to communicate with her mum, her sisters and her friends. ‘My Tobii’ is essentially a computer which she can operate by using her gaze on the screen instead of her fingers on a mouse or keyboard.

But where did the money come from?  Well, three local Lions Clubs (Malahide, Howth/Sutton and Portmarnock) collaborated to organise a concert in the Grand Hotel, Malahide. The entertainment was provided by “The Graffiti Classics” who performed classical and traditional music using brilliant arrangements and mischievous humour. Marty Whelan was brilliant as MC for the evening.

It was a sell-out show with an auction and a raffle. But the most wonderful thing though was the massive support for the project by the entire community. They made generous personal donations, organised a cake sale, had whip-arounds, organised sponsored walks and ran a bridge evening. Sparkling Aoife had captured the imagination of all who learned about her and the possibility of giving her a voice.

The result was a magnificent €23,000. And with the extra cash a very special tricycle called a DPC Mobility Device can now be bought for Aoife. As well as increasing her mobility this will give her therapy, fun and her own sense of cool.

So now, to the delight of her mother Nicola, and her sisters, she has her voice, and will soon have great mobility thanks to advanced technology combined with the generosity of people.

Read more about the Concert ... click here
See more photos of the concert and handover ... click here