The "Friends of St Columbas" Fund Raising Committee was formed by Fr Jim Caffrey in Sept 2006 with the clear objective of raising €750,000 to off set the cost of the refurbishment of St Columba's Church Iona Road.

The committee currently has the following members:

Austin Hughes - Chairman
Mel Farrell - Secretary
Emer Hannah
Connell Kelly
Evanne Kilmurray
Jackie Dolan
Sr Brigid Devane
Fr Jim Caffrey

Eddie O Connor acts as Treasurer and manages the income and expenditure of the committee. Eddie is also Treasurer to the Parish Finance Committee.

The first fund raising initative was put in place in November 2006 when the committee launched the " Friends of St Columba's" and appealed to parishoners to become a member by either making a contribution or agreeing to set up a standing order. This proved very successful and over the last 2 years this initative has raised in excess of €230,000.

In the spring of 2007 the committee examined the possibility of running a 6 monthly Grand Prize Draw with tickets at €100 each. This was discussed at length among the committee and with parishoners. After some very positive feed back it was decided to launch the "Friends of St Columba's" Grand Prize draw. The draw was ran over 6 months from June to October 2007 and the committe were delighted with the support that so many people gave to this initative. In addition to the 6 month draw a seperate Christmas draw was also ran and the total profit was in excess of €125,000. A wonderful result indeed.

Along with these two major initatives a number of other activities took place, eg Concerts, smaller draws etc, The committee also received some corporate contributions . A council grant was also received as a result of the first class workmanship done on the Church refurbshiment.

In summary as our barometer shows after just under  3 years the Friends of St Columba's Fundraising Committee have raised €485,000. This has been a fantastic achievement and a big thank you has to go all those who have helped the committee achieve this figure.

"A lot done and more to do" as the saying goes and with a further €265,000 plus to raise the committee has decided to continue for a further 2 years in an effort to reach the €750,000 target. With this in mind a new appeal has now gone out to Parishoners to consider making a further contribution and or sign a standing order form. A copy of Fr Jim Caffrey's appeal letter is attached along with a copy of the standing order form.

The committee would like to take this opportunity to thank all those people who have supported this fund raising initative in what ever way that has helped contribute to the funds already raised. We still have some more work to do and would welcome your continued support over the next 2 years.

Mel Farrell

Secretary