The hotel has pledged to fundraise for the Rainbow Club Cork Centre for Autism as well as providing training for staff on how best to cater to the needs of guests with autism.
The Cork International hotel, situated in Cork Airport Business Park has announced the Rainbow Club Cork as its charity partner for 2019. The two entities will work closely with each other over the course of the year both to fundraise for the charity organisation and to provide the hotel with a better understanding of how to cater to guests with autism.
The hotel will raise funds on behalf of the Rainbow Club during the year through various events and help the charity achieve their aim of establishing a new facility in Little Island, which will cost an estimated €2 million.
Compounding this, the hotel plans to work towards making its environment for guests with autism more inclusive by tailoring its facilities, as advised by the Rainbow Club.
It was Karen and Jon O’Mahony who first established the charity in 2015 to help children with ASD develop their social skills through a variety of activities such as music groups, speech and drama and art therapy. The club is run entirely by volunteers and is a non-government funded service. Partnerships with organisations such as the Cork International Hotel are vital to maintaining and improving services as Karen O’Mahony from the Rainbow Club says:
“Our club is an entirely voluntary organisation, which gets no government funding at all so a partnership like this with Cork International Hotel is a huge boost for us. It helps us to plan our services and activities and make sure we can keep helping children with ASD.”
Speaking about the new charity partnership, General Manager of the Cork International Hotel Carmel Lonergan said:
“We’re thrilled to announce this partnership between ourselves and the Rainbow Club. The dedication and commitment shown by the team at the Rainbow Club is truly inspirational and we’re very proud the Cork International Hotel can play a part in supporting the valuable work they do. Each guest has different requirements and we are looking forward to working with families in making their stay at the hotel a positive experience.”
For more information on The Rainbow Club for Children with Autism, check out their website.
Photography by Brian Lougheed.