Companies urged to send E-cards this Christmas to raise funds for Charities.

01 December 2009

This new service was launched yesterday at a photo shoot in Santa's Grotto in The Stephen's Green Centre at which financial guru Eddie Hobbs, a man who knows about the value of saving money, explained to Santa and RTE TV Presenter Blathnáid Ní Chofaigh how the system works.

Father Christmas, even though he was very busy, was glad to take a few minutes off to pose for some pictures.

"To be honest" he said, "Rudolf and I are not really up to speed with this email thing but my helpers use it all the time. They also Twitter and Facebook each other incessantly. As long as it raises plenty of money for these very worthy causes though, I'm all for it!

About the charities:

Aware is a voluntary organisation which assists that section of the population whose lives are directly affected by depression. 400,000 people in Ireland currently suffer from depression but many hide their depression and never get help. Sadly, over 500 people take their own life each year. Since its foundation in 1985 Aware has been working energetically to support sufferers of depression and their families and to dispel the myths and misunderstandings of this devastating illness. www.aware.ie

The Jack & Jill Children's Foundation helps young children who are born with or develop brain damage and who suffer severe intellectual and physical developmental delay as a result. The service includes home visits, advice, information, lobbying and bereavement support. "The gift of time" is how parents have described the support from Jack & Jill. Time to do the normal things that others take for granted, like sleeping, shopping, visiting friends or taking the other children to the park - with the peace of mind that their sick child is being well cared for. The Foundation requires over €3 million per annum to operate this service. www.jackandjill.ie

The Marie Keating Foundation is committed to providing all women and their families with the necessary information to prevent cancer, or detect it at its earliest stages. Their collective aim is to "enlighten not frighten". The Marie Keating Foundation is the realisation of a family's dedication - it is a promise to themselves, in action. The foundation believes that by increasing awareness and knowledge through mobile information units we can reach as many people as possible - and in doing so promote early detection and treatment. The Marie Keating foundation works closely with various cancer-related groups and organisations to complement and optimise efforts to eradicate cancer as a life threatening disease. www.mariekeating.ie

Plan Ireland is part of Plan International which is one of the oldest and largest international development agencies in the world. It has no political or religious affiliations and currently works in 48 developing countries directly supporting more than 1,500,000 children and their families, and an estimated 9,000,000 others living in communities working with Plan.www.plan.ie

Ingage is a full service online marketing agency. We lean heavily towards email marketing as the most cost effective and measurable way to sell products and services. Focused mainly on generating enquiries and driving sales ingage help 100s of companies generate additional business from existing, old and unused contacts. www.ingage.ieFor further information please call Karl Murray on 1890 812 822 or visit www.thischristmas.ie