Miss Northern Ireland and the Belfast Giants joined forces this weekend to kick start a week-long campaign of good deeds in aid of Special Olympics Ireland.
Electric Ireland’s Powering Kindness Week – which will see good deeds transformed into donations for three Irish charities – kicked off on Saturday (2nd November) and Northern Ireland’s great and good are limbering up to help Special Olympics Ireland in their bid to win a share of €100,000.
Every good deed or act of kindness logged during Powering Kindness Week (2nd-8th November) will benefit the three charities that are part of the campaign – Special Olympics Ireland, Childline and Breakthrough Cancer Research.
In support of Special Olympics Ireland, Miss NI, Meagan Green joined athletes and volunteers from Belfast based Special Olympics clubs, Salto and Neptune’s at the Belfast Giants’ home again against the Cardiff Devils on Sunday, 3rd November to hand out sweet treats to Giants fans as they descended en masse to the Odyssey Arena.
As a reciprocal good deed, the Belfast Giants invited the Special Olympics Ulster athletes and volunteers to stay and enjoy the nail-biting action of a live ice-hockey game, along with almost 4,000 other avid Giants fans.
These good deeds are amongst the first of many that will be conducted in the name of Special Olympics Ireland this week, as the charity vies to create a culture of kindness.
Other famous local faces supporting the Special Olympics Ireland Powering Kindness campaign include Ulster Rugby’s Paul Marshall, BBC Newsline anchor, Stephen Watson, DJ and broadcaster, Rigsy, UTV’s Pamela Ballantine and Radio 1’s Phil Taggart, who will all pledge their good deeds for the sports charity this week.
Commenting on the initiative, Shaun Cassidy, regional director, Special Olympics Ulster said:
“We are thrilled that Special Olympics Ireland has been chosen as one of the three charities for Electric Ireland’s Powering Kindness week. The ethos of doing good deeds is very much in keeping with the spirit of Special Olympics, which changes lives for the better each and every day.
“Funds raised through Powering Kindness week will make a massive difference to the lives of local people. In the Ulster region alone, Special Olympics supports over 2,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities in 98 clubs, providing opportunities to compete in sporting events on a regional, national and international level.
“We’d like to thank all of our local supporters and celebrities across Ulster for coming on board to help us during Powering Kindness week; we hope their good deeds will inspire others to do something Special and support Special Olympics Ireland during Powering Kindness Week.”
Members of the public can log their good deeds for Special Olympics Ireland through the Electric Ireland Powering Kindness website – poweringkindness.ie, through a dedicated Powering Kindness Facebook app (http://apps.facebook.com/poweringkindness) or through Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #poweringkindness and tagging @SOIreland
Good deeds will be accepted through to Friday 8th November. At the end of the week, the charity with the greatest number of good deeds done in their name will receive a donation from Electric Ireland for €50,000 with €30,000 and €20,000 for the other two charities.
For further information, visit www.poweringkindness.ie