Two GOAL Mile events in Offaly this Christmas

There will be two GOAL Mile events in Offaly this Christmas - one in Banagher and one in Birr.

The Birr event will take place in Emmet Square in the south Offaly town on Christmas Day at 1pm. The organiser is Emma Nee Haslam (for more information, email emmaneehaslam@gmail.com).

The Banagher GOAL Mile will take place from outside the Bank of Ireland premises on St Stephen's Day (Sunday, December 26) at 1pm. The Banagher organiser is Joan Mahon (jmahon31@gmail.com).

AIB, proud partner of the GOAL Mile, has teamed up with former Irish rugby international Luke Fitzgerald, Irish hockey international Róisín Upton, Olympian Ciara Mageean and former Mayo manager Stephen Rochford to encourage communities across the island to step up together and take part in the GOAL Mile this Christmas season.

For over 40 years, the GOAL Mile has seen tens of thousands of people run or walk a mile to raise funds for GOAL at Christmas to enable its work supporting vulnerable communities in 14 countries across the globe.

People can take part in the GOAL Mile in a number of different ways, be it in one of the more than 150 GOAL Mile events being organised in Ireland and internationally or simply by registering with GOAL at https://www.goalglobal.org/goal-mile/ and completing a mile in any place, at any time during the month of December.

In support of GOAL’s efforts to get more people than ever to complete the GOAL Mile, AIB will be installing a number of start lines around the country in the lead up to Christmas.

GOAL CEO Siobhan Walsh explained: “Hundreds of communities across Ireland already know and love the GOAL Mile. They show incredible compassion for communities in need across the world that this event supports. GOAL helped more than 14 million people in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America last year. We could not have achieved this without the continued support of the Irish people.”

AIB CEO Colin Hunt said: “The GOAL Mile, which is already a well-established event in many of the communities that we serve, helps transform the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people. This year we are committed to working with GOAL to make it the biggest GOAL Mile yet and are asking people across the island of Ireland to step up together to complete a mile for GOAL. In doing so, together we can help GOAL reach vulnerable communities that are already suffering deeply from the impact of crises, poverty and climate change.”

Donations to GOAL can be made at https://www.goalglobal.org/donate/