Pat Lalor, chairperson, H4H; Joe O’Rourke, host farmer; and Barbara Allen, branch manager, FBD Mullingar.

FBD Insurance partners with Hooves4Hospice campaign

FBD Insurance has partnered with the Hooves4Hospice campaign, a project established by Lions Clubs in the midlands to help raise funds and build awareness for a Level3 hospice.

The project was launched in January 2020 and sought funds to buy calves and found farmers to donate and to rear these animals to support the hospice initiative. Despite the challenges of 2020, currently more than 400 young animals are being reared by volunteer host farms.

The number continues to increase as more and more farm families offer their support. Thanks to the generosity of the farming community, the entire proceeds of the sale of all these animals will go towards the urgent and much- needed Midland Regional Hospice Building Fund.

FBD Insurance has, from the outset, been supportive of the project and is now a dedicated partner to help support the campaign.

Pat Lalor, chairperson of the Hooves 4Hospice project, welcomed the development: “FBD has shown remarkable empathy with our project and the need for a regional, level 3 hospice in the midlands.

“Like us, they are full of admiration for the generous and practical role which the farming community is playing through raising funds which will greatly help us to achieve our ambition,” he said, adding that the midlands is the only region in Ireland without a level 3 hospice.

“With the support and assistance of FBD, we look forward to that gap being bridged sooner than it might otherwise happen,” he stated.

“Despite the continuing restrictions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, we are optimistic that our fundraising project will continue to prosper and that the ambition of the people of the Midlands to have a Level 3 Hospice in our region will be realised.”

At the announcement, chief commercial officer with FBD Insurance, John Cahalan said: “We are privileged to be a partner with the Hooves4Hospice charity.

“This voluntary, innovative and unique fund raiser is a credit to the farming and wider communities across Westmeath and Longford, Laois and Offaly.

“Level 3 hospices are a critical community resource. We would encourage anyone across the midlands who can support or get involved with this initiative to get involved through the many different options available through the Hooves4Hospice initiative.”