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Offaly Man Named AXA's Community Hero Of 2020

Friday, 29 January 2021 16:47

James O'Connor has received €25,000 in prizes as a result.

An Offaly man has been named one of AXA's Community Hero's of 2020. 

James O'Connor, the man behind Accessible Counselling Tullamore will take home €20,000 for charity, which will go towards ACT and €5,000 for himself. 

Accessible Counselling Tullamore provides accessible counselling services for the benefit of adults in the midlands.  

He was one of 1,000 nominations received for the awards. 

James was announced as one of five winners on The Late Late Show this week. 

Speaking today Antoinette McDonald, Director at AXA said; 

“James suffered a devastating tragedy with the death of his daughter, but he has used that awful experience to set up ACT as a specialist counselling services for adults in the midlands to help other people cope with their own tragedies.  His story is one of remarkable selfishness and kindness and we are delighted to honor him with this award and to support this great charity.”  

The competition was open to residents of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and all nominees had to be aged 18 years or over at the date of entry. 

AXA will also present James with a personal award of €5,000 to mark his achievement.  Originally it was only intended to select one winner in this national competition but in response to over 1,000 nominations which poured in during the Summer, AXA increased the number of winners to 5 and increased the total prize fund from €25,000 to €125,000.

The AXA Community Hero awards was set up to recognize individuals who supported their friends, colleagues and neighbours during recent difficult months.  AXA is Ireland’s largest insurance company and has previously run campaigns to celebrate Farm Heroes and to support workers returning to work in the Irish health services during the Covid 19 crisis.

The five AXA Community Heroes selected from over 1,000 names submitted are:

 

NAME

County

Nominated For

Selected Charity

Eric Beggs

 

Louth

Eric raised €150,000 for Irish charity Fighting Blindness

Fighting Blindness

Oliver Lynch

Cork

Oliver who is just 8 years of age suffers from Cerebral Palsy but still raised over €30,000 for 3 Cork Charities by walking 5 kms in 50 days.

Enable Ireland.

Dogs for the Disabled.

CUH Charity.

Gary Rutherford

Derry

After overcoming his addiction, Gary has set up Addiction Recovery Coaching to help other recovering addicts.

The Bogside & Brandywell Health Forum

James O’Connor

Offaly

Learning from his own mental health challenges arising from the death of his young daughter, James set up Accessible Counselling Tullamore to provide professional counselling to adults in the midlands.

Accessible Counselling Tullamore

Geraldine Molloy

Dublin

Exceptional work volunteering with Inner City Helping Homeless; working 12 hour days leading a team on food distribution while also doing outreach herself and supporting clients with advocacy and mental health supports.

Inner City Helping Homeless

 

Speaking today Antoinette McDonald, Director at AXA said; 

“James suffered a devastating tragedy with the death of his daughter, but he has used that awful experience to set up ACT as a specialist counselling services for adults in the midlands to help other people cope with their own tragedies.  His story is one of remarkable selfishness and kindness and we are delighted to honor him with this award and to support this great charity.”  

The competition was open to residents of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and all nominees had to be aged 18 years or over at the date of entry. 

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