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Calcutta Run targets €350,000 for charities

The President of the Law Society has said that this year’s Calcutta Run is aiming to raise more than €350,000 for homelessness services in Ireland and Kolkata (formerly Calcutta).

Since it began in 1999, the Calcutta Run has raised €5.6 million, and the 2024 event raised €325,000.

This year, its partner charities are the Hope Foundation and Dublin Simon Community. 

Speaking at the launch of this year’s events, Eamon Harrington said that a Law Society team had recently visited Kolkata to witness what he described as the “phenomenal work” being done by the Hope Foundation in the city.

He called on the legal profession to “go the extra mile” this year for the event.

Registration is now open for individuals and firms.

‘Long-term’ programmes

Hope Foundation chief executive Maura Lennon told the launch about how the money raised from the run was used, adding that the difference it was making was “immeasurable”.

She said that Hope implemented programmes that were not just ‘band-aids’, but had a long-term, sustainable, and positive impact.

Lennon also detailed specific programmes for which money from the Calcutta Run had been earmarked this year – including a programme for children infected or affected by HIV/AIDS and a residential care centre for girls aged 12 to 18 who would otherwise be at risk of abuse.

Supporting accommodation

Catherine Kenny (chief executive, Dublin Simon Community) told the launch that the money from the Calcutta Run was mainly used for the charity’s medium-support and high-support accommodation for people who were unable to take on a tenancy or live independently.

This year, the money also allowed a person to be provided with end-of-life care.

The launch, compered by RTÉ’s Miriam O’Callaghan at McCann FitzGerald’s Dublin office, was attended by representatives of many of the main law firms, as well as Attorney General Rossa Fanning SC.

‘Social good’

The AG told the event that the Calcutta Run was a “public manifestation” of the good that the law and the legal profession did in Ireland.

“At a time when the legal profession is facing more scrutiny and criticism in this jurisdiction and around the world, this initiative says something really positive about the social good that law firms can do,” he stated.

The cornerstone event of the Calcutta Run is a 6km and 10km run and walk, beginning and ending at the Law Society in Blackhall Place. This year’s run takes place on Saturday 24 May.

The Cork and Galway runs take place on Sunday 25 May, a golf classic is on 9 May, and a tag rugby event takes place on Saturday 21 June.