PorterShed Community Skydiving for Guide Dogs

PorterShed Community Reach for the Sky to Help Irish Guide Dogs! Read on to find out all about this incredibly generous feat and how you can support it...

We all like to do our bit for charity when we can, but how many of us would be willing to jump out of a plane to help a good cause? Well, that’s what members of the PorterShed will be doing on September 13th, when they take part in a skydive in Offaly to raise funds for the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind.

The brave group will take to the skies in just a few short weeks’ time - at 13,000 ft in the air - before parachuting their way to safety, and it’s shaping up to be an exciting and adrenaline-fuelled way to help support the amazing charity.

The Irish Guide Dogs do life-changing work across the country helping vision-impaired people, and families of children with autism, to achieve improved mobility, freedom, and independence. For over 40 years they have worked with the community of breeders, puppy raisers, home socialisers, temporary boarders, trainers, staff, volunteers, and supporters to change as many lives as possible. It can cost up to €53,000 to breed, train, and care for a guide dog over the course of its working life - and that’s why the PorterShed are going above the clouds and beyond to contribute to such a worthwhile cause.

"I’m so proud of our community, they really are reaching for the sky to help the Irish Guide Dogs, and I’ve no doubt that people will get behind them and contribute whatever they can. PorterShed member Andrew Downes is one of the members taking part in the skydive, and his dad, Frank, has been volunteering with Irish Guide Dogs for over 44 years which is an incredible achievement. It’s because of selfless people like Frank that charities can do what they do best," PorterShed CEO Mary Rodgers said.

Of course, 100 percent of the funds raised will go directly to the Irish Guide Dogs, and the skydive cost will be paid by members individually. To donate, pop into the PorterShed at Bowling Green or Eyre Square - or visit the PorterShed’s GoFundMe page. Learn more about this innovation hub in Galway by checking out their website.

Photo is by Andrew Downes/xposure