Cheerios® Childline Breakfast Together Week (CCBTW) takes place on Monday October 5th – Sunday October 11th when thousands of people around the country will host and attend breakfasts to raise much needed funds for the Irish children’s charity Childline. David Carter from Nestlé Cereals talks about the many ways we can all get involved this year and make CCBTW 2009 the most successful year ever.

In 2008 due to a lack of funding Childline was only able to answer 60% of all the calls that were made by children to the charity. To the many volunteers who man the phones it is clear that the demand on the service is even greater this year with children being very aware of the financial situation that their families are finding themselves in. We can all make a real difference to these children’s lives by either hosting or attending a breakfast or even simply by making a text donation.

We are delighted to be helping Childline reach out to every child that needs its help. Breakfast is such an important meal of the day both nutritionally and socially so we encourage everyone to hold a breakfast anywhere, anyplace, anytime and help us raise vital funds for a great cause.

On Monday 5th October Today FM’s Ian Dempsey will host a breakfast live from Fire Restaurant in The Mansion House where the public will be encouraged to have breakfast and make a donation to Childline. This year for the first time people can text the word CHILD to 57080 to donate €2 to a great cause.

20,000 CCBTW Goody Bags with a value of over €50 will be sold by Childline volunteers for just €2 to raise added funds throughout September and October. These breakfast bags will be available at Dundrum Town Centre, The Pavilions, Blanchardstown S.C., Mahon Point S.C. (Cork) and Jetland S.C. (Limerick). We will also be running a family fun day at Dundrum Town Centre on Sat 10th & Sun 11th October, which will include face painting, balloon modelling, a specially commissioned “Cheerios® Wish Garden” and a host of celebrities will be popping in throughout the weekend.

I must extend a special thank you to the team at McCann Erickson who have given us so much support with this project over the last 2 years, producing top class work as always. Thanks to Leona, Sarah, Orlaith, Matt, Ray and Emma!