The epic showdown between the gardaí and DFB ladies teams will take place at Westmanstown Sports & Conference Centre this Saturday, all in aid of Oscar’s Kids and Little Blue Heroes.
The day will be filled with intense competition and sportsmanship, along with face painting, music, food, raffles, and a balloon artist.
Little Blue Heroes support the families of children with serious illnesses in Ireland while empowering the lives of children through community engagement.
They provide practical and financial support to the families while granting the wish of the children they support to become Honorary Gardaí to empower the child and foster positive engagement with An Garda Síochána.
Ann-Marie Keane, who is the co-founder of Little Blue Heroes, says the funds raised on the day will make a huge difference to the charity.
“My husband is a sergeant in the Community Relations Bureau in the guards. He was getting calls from his colleagues in community areas who would know families that would be struggling,” she told the Irish Independent.
“The kids love the blue lights and sirens so there was always a whip around to help a family out, but I wanted to give more.
“I worked for 31 years with adults who had disabilities. I was a senior carer. I would have a lot of background around meds, peg feeds, how to look after someone with a disability and how to treat them equally within the community.
“We work with families, some of our kids have their own rare syndrome. A lot of them deal with very life limiting medical conditions and unfortunately life threatening. That’s where we come in.”
Ms Keane explained that all their kids are excited for the big event to kick off this weekend.
“There is a fun rivalry between the fire brigade and the gardaí. Some of our honourary gardaí will come along in their uniforms to cheer on their colleagues. One of our kids even has his yellow and red cards to help the referee out,” she added.
“The money will be going towards a thing we do every Christmas called Sarah’s Christmas gift. One of the members of the gardaí had a daughter called Sarah Robinson. She passed away from childhood cancer at 16.
“She was organising her own funeral. She saw how we helped her family through their tough times in 2018. She didn’t want flowers at the funeral. She wanted the money to come back into Little Blue Heroes to help other families. Her biggest fear was always that her name would be forgotten.
“In 2019 we decided that our honorary gardaí get a Sarah’s Christmas gift every year, it’s delivered to all our little gardaí nationwide.
“For any of our Little Blue Heroes who have passed away, their families get a remembrance gift to keep their kids’ memory and name alive. That’s where that money will be going.”
