All for Us: book raises €306,000 for Childline

A UNIQUE book, produced by the Ray D’Arcy Show, which charted a day in the life of Ireland through the lens of amateur photographers, has raised €306,000 for Childline.

The book, ‘Us’, went on sale last year with all proceeds going to the free helpline for children in trouble.

Irish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) director of fundraising, Micheál Sheridan, said he was delighted Childline had been chosen to receive the cheque, as it would help the charity to develop its work.

“It is only through the support of companies like Today FM and Meteor and the support of Today FM listeners and the public, that Childline can continue developing to ensure that more and more children get support from Childline in whatever way they are comfortable with,” he said.

The charity will use the money to develop its telephone helpline and internet service, www.childline.ie, as well as its one-to-one text service for children with hearing difficulties.

The ‘Us’ book became an unexpected best-seller when it stormed to the top of the Christmas book charts after selling more than 30,000 copies.

Ray D’Arcy said the success of the book was largely down to teamwork.

“It was a huge team effort and a huge thank you to everybody involved, because €306,000 is a brilliant achievement,” said the Today FM presenter.

The idea for ‘Us’ came about last October when Today FM asked people from all over Ireland to record their day by taking photographs.

More than 17,000 images were submitted to the radio station, with 2,000 making it into the book.

In 2005, Childline answered 203,593 calls, an increase of 13% on the statistics for 2004.