Feb 24, 2016:

Award-Winning Cookbook Raises Funds for Active Retirement Ireland

An award-winning cookbook written by TV3’s The Restaurant Chef Gary O’Hanlon has raised €5,000 for Active Retirement Ireland. Food For The Soul published by homecare company Bluebird Care won a prestigious Gourmand Award last year in the ‘Best Charity Fundraising in Europe’ category.

Chef Gary O’Hanlon also toured the country in 2015 cooking recipes from the cookbook to raise money for the older persons charity which has 24,5000 members nationwide.

Operations Director of Bluebird Care, Eddie O’Toole says, “We have long-held the view that good home cooking is very important to our customers who live in their own homes. We are in the homes of hundreds of people every week right across Ireland and we understand the importance of a healthy and balanced diet. We asked Gary to write the cookbook for us and to devise recipes that had home cooking at the heart of them. It was only right that we donated 50 per cent of all proceeds to our charity partner Active Retirement Ireland.”


Eddie O'Toole and Brian McGooey present the cheque for €5000 to Mai Quaid, President of Active Retirement Ireland. The donation was raised through the sale of the cookbook "Food for the Soul" by Gary O'Hanlon.

President of Active Retirement Ireland, Mai Quaid says, "Our members have a long-held love of home cooking, and when Bluebird Care asked us if we would like to come onboard with this cookbook, we jumped at the chance. The recipes are simple, yet delicious; and every cookbook sold has helped us to carry out our mission to end loneliness among older people in Ireland."

Chef Gary O’Hanlon says the book and the cookery demos were very well received. “The cookery demos brought the dishes to life and we also recorded videos of most of the dishes in the book for the Bluebird Care YouTube channel. I’m delighted to have been part of this project which gives back to Active Retirement Ireland, many of whose members attended our demos.”

Food for the Soul is a collection of Gary’s favourite home-cooked which come with a personal back-story for each recipe. The cookbooks are still available to buy for €10 at www.bluebirdcare.ie or from your local Bluebird Care office.

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