NATIONAL INITIATIVE: The Green Wave is the brainchild of Kelly Crichton and the team at Elite Event Management, Killarney.

By Sean Moriarty

One of the biggest event organising companies in Ireland, Killarney-based Elite Event Management, is behind a national scheme to support frontline medical staff during the current health crisis.

The initiative, called ‘The Green Wave’, has been set up by Kelly Crichton and her team in Killarney. They are using their event organisation and logistics skills to deliver free cups of coffee to nurses, doctors, gardai and other frontline staff.

There are three key elements to the campaign; members of the public can join ‘The Green Wave' by making donations to a dedicated GoFundMe page, by wearing green clothes or county jerseys every Friday, and by spreading the word by using #thegreenwave in social media posts.

The Green Wave​ GoFundMe page is designed so cups of coffee can be delivered to frontline staff at University Hospital Kerry (UHK) and other hospitals nationwide once purchased by a member of the public.

Elite Event Management is the organiser of some of the biggest sporting events in Ireland, including the Ring of Beara Cycle, Run Killarney, Ride Dingle and the Quest Adventure Race Series.

The sport industry, like so many others, has been adversely affected by COVID-19 restrictions.

The team at Elite had to postpone many of their events and decided to put their time to good use.

“Like so many people we just wanted to do something to help. Looking at posts on social media and talking to our own friends and family on the frontline, there were common threads," Kelly told the Killarney Advertiser.

"The two that jumped out were; to know they were supported, and to be able to have a decent cup of coffee mid-shift that they didn’t have to leave the hospital for. I thought, we can do this, and we delivered our first coffee within two days. We are urging the public to get behind this, get your green on every Friday and put it on social media – we need to show our support and gratitude for these awesome people. If you can, donate the price of a cup of coffee, and we’ll get it to them.”

Since launching ‘The Green Wave’ has already raised over €8,300 at the time of going to print.
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The public can also show their support by printing off a poster from www.thegreenwave.ie which they can put up in their window.

Coffees have already been delivered to University Hospital Kerry, Cork University Hospital and the Mercy Hospital Cork, University Hospital Limerick as well as Beaumont Hospital and the Mater in Dublin. The Green Wave Coffee Campaign will do drops in the Bon Secours Hospital in Tralee and Cork, as well as hospitals in Drogheda and Bantry, and at a number of Garda Stations and other frontline services.

[caption id="attachment_31124" align="alignleft" width="768"] COFFEE TIME: Staff at University Hospital Kerry enjoy one of the first Green Wave sponsored coffee deliveries earlier this week.[/caption]