UCD Rugby To Host Annual Daffodil Day Collection On Thursday, March 6
Daffodial Day mascots Julia and Rosanna Henson helped to launch UCD Rugby's annual Daffodil Day collection, alongside Ireland stars and UCD clubmen, Andrew Porter, Garry Ringrose, Josh van der Flier, and Hugo Keenan ©INPHO/Nick Elliott
UCD Rugby will host its annual Daffodil Day collection, in aid of the Irish Cancer Society on Thursday, March 6 across the UCD campus as well as online.
To launch this year’s event in the UCD Bowl, UCD Rugby players past and present from the Leinster and Ireland Men’s teams, members of both the current UCD RFC Men’s and Women’s teams, and second year students from the UCD BSc Sport & Exercise Management programme were on hand.
They were joined by Averil Power, CEO of the Irish Cancer Society, UCD President Orla Feely, Dominic O’Keefe, Director of UCD Student Services, and UCD RFC President Barry Sheehan.
Also supporting the event were Professor Gráinne O’Kane, Pat Mullen Chair in Pancreatic Cancer at UCD, and Carol Murphy, Partner, Head of Markets EY Ireland. This year’s Daffodil Day mascots were Julia and Rosanna Henson.
To date this annual event has raised over €120,000 of vital funds for Cancer Research. On Thursday week, UCD Rugby will be asking for your support once again and will be located throughout the UCD campus looking for donations.
There will also be an online donation element once more this year, for those who may not be on campus, and we will be asking that you support UCD Rugby in their drive to raise vital funds for Irish Cancer Society.
Irish Cancer Society CEO Averil Power commented: “At the Irish Cancer Society, we are incredibly humbled by the ongoing commitment of UCD Rugby to raise vital funds for Daffodil Day.
“So far, over €120,000 has been raised by UCD Rugby, and those funds mean that we can be there to support cancer patients and their families when they need that support the most.
“For the 10th year, UCD will go Daffodil yellow on Thursday, March 6, and we can’t thank the army of volunteers led by UCD Rugby stars past and present, the UCD BSc Sport & Exercise Management second year class, and the whole campus enough for their amazing work.”
She continued: “We only receive 5% of our funding from Government, so it is through fundraising initiatives like this that we can offer patients and their families our range of free supports such as our Support Line, our Daffodil Centres, free lifts to and from treatment, our free Night Nursing service, childhood cancer grants, and so much more.
“We are also the largest voluntary sector investor in cancer research in Ireland supporting researchers, including in UCD, to make ground-breaking cancer breakthroughs. Please get out on the 6th of March and support UCD Rugby’s Daffodil Day, and go ‘all in’ against cancer.”
Professor Orla Feely is also supporting the event. with the UCD President saying: “I fully support UCD Rugby Club’s forthcoming Daffodil Day fundraiser for the Irish Cancer Society, and I urge as many staff and students as possible to give generously on Thursday, March 6 to this most worthy of causes.”
The event is kindly being organised and run by the UCD BSc Sport & Exercise Management second year class. Please visit the UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy, and Sports Science to learn more about the range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in sports management, coaching, and exercise science.
To donate to this year’s fundraising initiative, please click here. To learn more about Daffodil Day, visit cancer.ie.