Kate Jarvey & Terry O’Neill Honoured as Cork Persons of the Month

We are proud to announce that Crann Founder Kate Jarvey and volunteer Terry O’Neill are joint Cork Persons of the Month for September! 

Kate Jarvey and the late Timmy Buckley opened our centre in Ovens in 2018. Through her commitment, Crann has gone on to support over 280 families with neuro-physical disabilities. With Kate’s vision, Crann has spearheaded “first in Ireland” projects like The Impact Hub, a co-working office which supports people with disabilities to remote work in a collaborative environment, our fully accessible Playground and Leisure Area  and a 25 acre accessible conservation area near Kanturk.

Terry O’Neill, a master craftsman and passionate volunteer, was the cornerstone to building our accessible playground & leisure area. Terry spent months hand-building the huge accessible wooden Pirate Ship, christened “The Hilarium” in honour of his late son Cathal. 

“I would like to thank all my colleagues at Cumnor Construction and other volunteers and sponsors for their help at the Crann playground.  I know Cathal would approve of the way it turned out.”, said Terry at the award presentation.

Crann Chief Executive Padraig Mallon added “Our staff and Board members are absolutely delighted with this recognition for our Founder and Chairperson Kate and for our super volunteer Terry who, supported by a small group of friends, spent every Saturday over the past year building the huge Pirate Ship by hand.”

Speaking about establishing Crann Kate said, “I wanted to break the pattern of fragmented care services for people with disability and their families, so I hope that Crann will be that change maker now and for many years to come.”

Kate and Terry are now nominees for Cork Persons of the Year. The winner will be announced at a Gala in January next. 

Find out more about Kate and Terry’s fantastic award:

https://www.independent.ie/regionals/corkman/news/kanturks-kate-jarvey-is-named-joint-cork-person-of-the-month-42006142.html

https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-40966871.html

https://www.corkindependent.com/2022/09/21/sharing-their-crann-ing-glory/