GOAL Mile raises €7,000 in Laois

GOAL Mile events across Laois raised €7,000 for the aid agency’s lifesaving humanitarian programmes around the world. 

Total figures announced by the agency on 6 February show that a record €800,000 was raised nationally at the popular festive fundraiser. 

The grand total includes €7,000 raised in Laois, as crowds turned out to support the event at GAA clubs in Stradbally, Portarlington and Spink on New Year's Day.  

The event was held at over 200 locations across the Republic and Northern Ireland, as well as in the United States and Africa, over the Christmas season and into the New Year.

The flagship fundraiser has grown from humble beginnings in the early 1980s into a much-loved annual event.

All funds raised will go towards GOAL’s ongoing efforts in delivering life-saving aid to some of the world’s most fragile communities including those in Gaza, Sudan, Ethiopia, Syria and beyond. The agency has worked to provide food, shelter, water and sanitation in crisis-hit regions for the past four decades.

Welcoming the record-breaking success of GOAL Mile 2025, the agency’s chief executive Jennifer Farrelly said: ‘Having experienced the GOAL Mile in my own locality, I was taken by the camaraderie and community spirit that was on display and the colour that was added by all of the lovely festive outfits that people wore for the occasion.

“At every GOAL Mile location, people give up their own time to help GOAL raise funds for millions of others caught up in climate and conflict emergencies. On behalf of all my colleagues at GOAL, we say a massive thank you.’

She also paid tribute to GOAL’s sports ambassadors and campaign champions who include Bernard Jackman, Sonia O’Sullivan, Eamonn Coghlan and Pádraig Harrington, who helped spread the GOAL Mile message.