Sports and Wellness Fund 2024
The Sports and Wellness Fund supports social innovations that use sports and physical activity programmes to have a demonstrable impact on improving mental health outcomes and social inclusion for people and communities in Ireland.
This two-year Fund offers a package of cash grants and non-financial supports to 5 awardees to help them scale and maximise their impact in promoting healthier lives, increased levels of mental health and wellbeing and improved social cohesion.
Awardees
Active Connections CLG
Active Connections CLG is Ireland’s outdoor therapeutic charity. We use outdoor sports in combination with therapeutic work to Transform Lives Through Adventure. Each year we work with 170+ high need young people, young people that thrive in doing. Our New Trails programme focuses heavily on supporting foster care placements. This intervention helps to avoid placement breakdown and helps secure safe stable placements.
“The invaluable support from Rethink Ireland allows us to reach more young people, expanding to new locations and providing access to life-changing experiences. The funding and resources from Rethink Ireland will support us in creating an environment where young people facing challenges can find stability, safety, and a therapeutic outlet that speaks to their needs. Through this support, we can offer more young people the opportunity to engage in meaningful activity-based intervention that promotes growth, healing and resilience”
-Ray Burke, CEO
Irish Homeless Street Leagues
The Irish Homeless Street Leagues was founded in 2004 by Sean Kavanagh. IHSL is a volunteer driven non profit organisation that uses the power of sport to transform the lives of people who have found themselves affected by social exclusion.
“Being awarded a place on the Rethink Accelerator programme is just what we need to bring us to the next level”
– Chris O’Brien, CEO
Football Cooperative
Football Cooperative is an award winning health intervention that places recreational football as a hook to bring men together to get active and promote positive health outcomes. The game based model increases accessibility in group physical activity through delivery of regular, social, recreational football that provides an opportunity for men to join members of their community to build friendship and connection.
“This award represents another significant milestone for Football Cooperative on our journey to growing participation, health outcomes and social impact through our model of active recreation in regular, social, recreational football games”
– Steven O’Connell, Founder & Director
Sanctuary Runners
Sanctuary Runners is a solidarity-through-sport initiative that uses running, jogging, walking and sea swimming to bring all in the community together including, and especially, people seeking international protection, refugees and other migrants. The Sanctuary Runners model addresses the challenges of achieving community integration and social cohesion, while also improving members’ physical and mental health.
“Winning Rethink Ireland award has been huge for us. For Rethink Ireland to believe in Sanctuary Runners mission and plans for the future is really special and we can’t wait to collaborate on our journey going forward’
– Michael Darragh Macauley, CEO
Special Olympics Ireland
We are a sports organisation for people with an intellectual disability from the age of 4 years old with no upper age limit. Currently almost 8,000 athletes from across the island of Ireland participate in 15 different sports through Special Olympics.
Through our sports, health and leadership programmes our athletes learn to be physically, mentally and emotionally fit. They get to learn new skills, increase confidence and most importantly they get to experience the joy of sport and make life-long friendships!
“On behalf of everyone at Special Olympics Ireland, I want to extend our heartfelt gratitude and thanks to Rethink Ireland for the incredible support of our health and wellbeing initiatives, through the latest round of the Sports & Wellbeing Fund. This support will help us to continue to make advancements within our own health & wellbeing programme that will have a profound impact on the lives of our athletes across the island of Ireland.
With the help of this funding we will be able to continue to enhance our programmes, ensuring that our athletes have access to the health & wellbeing resources they need to thrive both on and off the field.”
– Matt English, CEO, Special Olympics Ireland
