Group raises €70k for search and rescue base

Plans to build a search and rescue base in Waterford City are well under way after the local marine search and rescue team was one of three organisations to benefit from a DoneDeal charity month initiative.

Waterford Marine Search and Rescue is trying to raise €100,000 to build a new 24/7 base. A donation of €12,505 from DoneDeal now means the team has raised €70,000.

“It is a massive amount of money especially for a voluntary organisation such as ourselves. We were absolutely gobsmacked when we learned DoneDeal had donated such a generous sum,” the group said.

In January 2010 Darryl Barry and his twin brother Declan set up Waterford Marine Search and Rescue to provide their native city with a voluntary 24-hour, 365-days-a-year search and rescue service. The organisation has saved over 84 lives. Mr Barry is confident Waterford people will get behind the team as they close in on their €100,000 target.

“We would be hoping to put a big push on the last €30,000 and hopefully we will be in a position to start building a search and rescue base by the end of the year. That may be a bit ambitious but we have to have goals and deadlines so we will push for the end of the year to have that money,” he said.

Founded in 2010 a charity was chosen every second month and for the duration of that month 10% of the cost of placing an ad on DoneDeal was donated to the designated charity. As the company grew and more ads were placed it was decided to split the money between three charities.

The DoneDeal charity initiative recently reached the €1m milestone.