The HSE cutbacks have really affected the voluntary community sector; and DeafHear.ie is no exception. With all the rural outreach clinics curtailed Deaf/Hard of Hearing have to travel to the nearest Resource Centre for information, hearing aid batteries (we sell them for €3 compared to €7 in your 'local' chemists!) and other advocacy services. Cost of Deaf Technology has increased; a hearing person can buy a simple smoke alarm in Woodies for €20 but the cheapest Smoke Alarm for a Deaf/Hard of Hearing person will set them back €170 plus installation costs (and no, there are NO grants available). The Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Project has been put on hold despite a well run campaign and a successful pilot project with Rotunda Hospital - unbelievable considering that Ireland is the only Western country without one! The Mental Health and Family Support (social workers) Service is struggling with an increase in referrals. With the majority of our clients depended on Social Welfare - the Celtic tiger hasn't really benefited the Deaf/Hard of Hearing community and the current recession is really biting hard.
Rather than moan about it - DeafHear.ie embarked on a fundraising drive with each centre doing their share. A National Sky Dive has been planned for 12th October and two of our staff members: Shane & Geraldine (Gerii) along with Gerii's partner Andrew will be throwing themselves out of the plane for the cause! Two of them are really scared of heights (I give ya a clue: it's not the female!) which makes it all the more funnier! We need to raise a minimum of €2,000 but we set ourselves a challenge of €3,000!
I suggested running a poker night, at first no one would agree... Thankfully the CEO & the Regional Manager gave their blessing, and I was off to organise it before they could change their minds!
JP Poker has kindly agreed to host it in Molloy's Pub (it's also known as the "local deaf club" due to its close proximity to the Tallaght Deaf Club) on the provision that it starts at 4pm. Some colleagues from the other resource centres have agreed to come along on the provision that we teach them how to play; a couple of Irish Deaf Poker regulars have agreed to show them basics from 3:30pm
I am actively looking for sponsors to sponsor a table (half a table even) to cover the organising costs (e.g. refreshments etc); so far I've three tables sponsored... We have a raffle too, I have several lovely raffle prizes already - including vouchers for restaurants & shops, concert tickets, gifts and bottles.
It should be a good fun day: please come along! Leave the car at home and check out the cheap booze on offer at Molloys including their famous pitchers of beer! Join the re-buy madness and support DeafHear.ie Dublin South Sky Dive Challenge!
Cya all there!
5 comments:
UPDATE ON EVENT:
We had a much lower than expected turnout with 17 players, which was disappointing, but everyone enjoyed the game especially the non-poker players! We had a top quality blind structure JP put on for us which allowed plenty of play and gained the admiration of our IDP "pros"!
Ciaran (AKA The Sheriff) did a brief 'basics class' in poker for the 3/4 non-poker players before the game. He must have done something right as one of his 'students' managed to outlast him to come 3rd for €100!!!!
SusieWoosie stormed her way to the final table as chipleader from the very first hand... in her defence she had aimed to produce as much re-buys as possible but ended up winning! I tried same strategy on my table and ended up re-buying 3 times! I arrived on final table with just under average stack and a sensible plan to play tight! My break only came when I pushed all in with KK against Keeno's raise and he CALLED(!) Thankfully my kings held and I was on a roll after that! Had Susie covered at Heads-Up but we agreed to split €200 each and 'play for the rest'... we had a laugh we found out the 'rest' was €20! A couple of hands later and I had it.
The spot prizes went down a treat. Donal 'The Value' was happy with his wooden spoon prize being the first person out after the re-buy period ended, running his K10s into chipleader's A2 off on a 345K10 board. My manager took the bottle of vodka with the best hand of the night holding quad Kings!
The raffle was a better sell-out, we made over €250 selling the tickets in Molloy's, and the prizes were snapped up fast! I was delighted to win the champagne & chocolates set... Keeping it for Christmas! ;-D
The poor turn out won't stop us from doing it again... some players who felt bad letting me down or were unable to turn up due to other commitments, kindly offered to donate directly to the charity instead - a lovely gesture and well appreciated!
A big thank you to JP & Christine who put on a terrific game for us yesterday, and dealt the entire game for us too!
Last but not least - to all the people who came and played: THANK YOU!!!!
Well done queen Jules on the split win to you both. 17 was very poor by the sounds of it alright i sense your dissapointment. I'd like to go to the next one you advertise.
fair play to u for organising it!
Apologies for not playing seriously, shud have given the players a lot more respect.. but what a laugh it was to make a full house on the turn with 72!!! LOL!!
As for my exit hand, it was standard so if ur reading this Susan, how could u put ur tournament life on the line with ONE pair when you were 2nd chip leader?!?!?!! LOL!! Ah ya know I m only buzzing!
But at least I won the €100 voucher so I got something out of my trip to Tallaght!
Well done jules!
No worries A; I'm cool about it - I'm confident we'll surpass that number next time! Will work better with different format methinks! ;-)
Cee - well done on winning the €100! I bet Sarah Jane is being mighty sweet to ya since... ;-D Thanks a million for your support last Sunday! xxx
Ha Cee
You forget i can spot your tell a MILE AWAY!
I saw it when you went all in..knew you werent confident with your hand -- and as you rightly mention.. i was chipleader..could afford it..and hey could rebuy....
made sense to me...and oh...did i put you out??.......
The last 3/4 deaf games ive played with you - live and online - we keep exiting each other... note to self - exit Cee on Sat :P
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