Extern will be adding a bit of ‘petal power’ to fundraising efforts for Daffodil Day by growing and selling their own flowers to raise cash for people with cancer.

Staff and service users from Extern’s Drogheda-based Intensive Family Support Service have spent the winter months tending to hundreds of brightly-coloured blooms at sites across the town, with the aim of selling bunches of daffodils to contribute to the Irish Cancer Society’s annual campaign on March 24th.

The green-fingered growers chose daffodils as their number one blossom following consultation with pupils from local primary and secondary schools, who have been helping to grow the classic spring blooms.

Bunches of the flowers will be sold within the town, outside supermarkets, in shopping centres and on the streets during the week of March 24th. The money raised will go towards supporting the Irish Cancer Society to save lives, and to improve the situation of people affected by cancer.

Extern IFSS team members Gerard Holy and Jo Costello show off some of the blooms which will be going on sale around Drogheda in aid of the Irish Cancer Society’s Daffodil Day appeal.

Based in Drogheda town and covering areas on both sides of the River Boyne, the IFSS project is a community-based initiative that provides support to young people at risk of engaging, or engaged, in criminal activity. The team works with the young person, their family, and positive supports within the community to identify alternative pathways for the young people concerned.

Liz Cronin, who manages the IFSS project, said: “The daffodil symbolises rebirth and new beginnings, which is an idea which resonates with many of those families and young people we support each year through our work."

"Along with our partners, we have been growing the daffodils in school grounds and green areas of local housing estates, with some service users even nurturing them in planters in and around their homes."

 “Supporting communities is one of the core strands of practice of the Intensive Family Support Service in Drogheda, so the planting of the bulbs is an opportunity for those we support to really engage with civic life in the town."

"It’s also been a great way for the young people to take ownership of the project and get a real sense of achievement from doing this. They are very much looking forward to getting out there and selling their carefully cultivated flowers to help support such a fantastic cause.”