THE Irish Cancer Society will receive all proceeds from tomorrow evening's performance of Handel's Messiah in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin at 8 p.m. The concert is supported by the Embassy of Japan and features the Tokyo Oratorio Society Choir and the Tallaght Choral Society and the orchestra will be conducted by Hiroshi Gunji. Tickets are £10 (concession £5) and are available from McCullough Piggott (01) 6773138 or the Irish Cancer Society (01) 6681855.
PARENTLINE, the organisation for parents under stress, is recruiting new volunteers in September. Anyone interested in training to be a Parentline volunteer should telephone (01) 8727014 from Monday to Friday between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. for more information and application forms.
UNICEF (United Nations Childrens Fund) is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and the Irish National Committee is looking for volunteer collectors throughout the country. The Children's £ Appeal, which will take place during September and October will be launched by Sir Peter Ustinov in Dublin on September 1st. The focus is on the prevention of commercial sexual exploitation of children over a million children a year are drawn into the multi billion dollar sex trade, most of them aged between 13 and 18 years, although there is evidence that very young children and babies are also caught up in this horrific trade. Volunteers can contact David or Elizabeth on (01) 6770843 or 6770122.
NEXT Monday sees the launch of AWARE's Depression Awareness Week Nationwide (D MVN). The theme for this year's DAWN week will closely examine the area of Depression in Men. This year's campaign geared towards alleviating fears and stigmas and making the community at large aware of the fact that depression in men is a common but treatable illness. The campaign, which will run from September 2nd to 6th, will feature a TV, press and radio campaign depicting real life male sufferers of depression. Depression is often associated with fear and ignorance of the facts, and the campaign hopes to remove this fear and indicate where help may be sought. Audio tapes and posters are being currently distributed to GPs nationwide, and there will be a series of lectures in various centres around the country in the autumn. Further information from (01) 8308449.
CEREBRAL Palsy Ireland's Yellow Ribbon Campaign takes place for one week from next Sunday. Yellow ribbons, a symbol of welcome, will be on sale to the public to raise funds for specialist centres around the country to help children and adults with physical disabilities by providing them with schooling, therapy services and sheltered work opportunities. This year for the first time NICOD, the Northern Ireland disability charity, will link with CPI on this North/South fundraising venture. Further information from CPI (01) 2695355 and NICOD (0801232)666188.
CORK Simon Community will be holding its annual Sponsored Sleep Out on Friday, September 6th. Last year's Sleep Out raised £3,000 for Simon's work with homeless people in Cork city. As well as fundraising for the new Simon housing project at Anderson's Quay, the Sleep Out is a way of raising awareness of homelessness and highlighting the reality that, for many people, sleeping outdoors is a fact of life. Sponsorship cards are available from Jennifer Riney at (021) 278730.