In each life changed at The Mercy, your legacy will live on…
You live your life caring for family, enjoying friends, sharing in all that this community offers. But have you considered what your community will be like for future generations? More and more of our generous supporters are choosing to leave a legacy to ‘The Mercy’ so they can make a difference to generations to come. Whether you leave a small or large amount everything can make a difference:
- €100 could provide information leaflets on cancer
- €2,600 could help provide a profiling bed for a patient
- €16,000 could help provide the hospital with a Ventilator
- €200,000 could help provide two years of specialist Psycho-oncology services for patients and their families during their cancer journey
Leave a Legacy – A lasting gift
Every year, The Mercy treats over 100,000 patients of all ages. In order to provide the best possible care, we need your help to fund essential equipment and services for the hospital. Leaving a legacy in your Will is one of the greatest ways you can make sure that people receive treatment and care in a world-class hospital right here in Cork. Your generosity and thoughtfulness will live on and make a tremendous difference to people’s lives.
Types of Legacy
Legacies can take a number of different forms click here to find out about different types of legacies.
Click here for some handy tips on writing or amending a Will.
Planning your Legacy
If you would like to make plans for a legacy gift to the Mercy University Hospital, we would be pleased to provide you with detailed information about the ways your gift can make a real and lasting difference to the Hospital. We can meet one to one to discuss options such as a gift in memory of a loved one or specific areas of the Hospital of interest to you. If you like you can request a tour of the Hospital to see for yourself first-hand the difference a legacy could make to patients at ‘The Mercy’ both young and old.
To Leave a Legacy or for further information please contact Deirdre Finn, Head of Fundraising on 021 4274076 or click here to contact us.
Did you know that the Mercy Hospital was founded thanks to a legacy?
Prior to the opening of the first Mercy House in 1827 and the foundation of the Sisters of Mercy in 1831, the Mercy Foundress Catherine McAuley had been invited to care for an elderly couple living in Coolock on the outskirts of Dublin. The couple were William and Catherine Callaghan and they would not be just instrumental in shaping the life of Catherine McAuley but would play one of the most significant roles in the story of Mercy. Catherine joined the Callaghan household at age 25 and worked for a further 20 years as a companion to Mr and Mrs Callaghan.
Toward the end of his life William Callaghan inquired into Catherine’s future. What did she plan to do after he died? One evening he asked her frankly: “What shall I leave you at my death, will you be satisfied with €1,000?” Catherine, disturbed at the question, told him she would not know what to do with €1,000. Callaghan apparently laughed: “You would not know what to do with €1,000? well, I know what you would do; you would do a great deal of good with it at all events”. She little suspected how far off the mark her response would prove.
When William Callaghan’s last will and testament were opened, Catherine McAuley discovered that his bequest to her went far beyond €1,000. Estimates of the eventual inheritance range from €25,000 to €30,000 (the average equivalent today would range from €1.9 million to €2.5 million).
The legacy from the Callaghan’s to Catherine was not simply monetary it went far deeper than that. The graciousness courtesy and hospitality that characterized Catherine’s future life were fully developed during her years with the Callaghans and she continued to develop and improve her nursing abilities and always knew instinctively what was best for a sick person.
On June 22, 1824, with her inheritance, Catherine leased for 150 years, from the Earl of Pembroke, a plot of land, 100 feet by 175 feet on the corner of Baggot Street and Herbert Street, at an annual rent of €60.
The first House of Mercy opened in 1827 and the rest is our history.
