Embrace FARM hosted its tenth annual Ecumenical Remembrance Service on Sunday, June 25th, 2023, to allow farming families to share the names and memories of those injured or lost to sudden death.
The event took place in the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Abbeyleix, Co. Laois, at 2 pm
Over the past ten years, the service has become a pinnacle event in the farming community.
It acknowledges the suffering of those who have survived farm accidents and provides a place for farm families to remember loved ones who have died
Last year, 285 people’s names were featured in the roll call.
Speaking about the impact of Embrace FARM since it was founded ten years ago, founder Norma Rohan said:
“It all started with the first Remembrance Service in 2014, and since then our services have evolved and grown so that we now provide support groups along with personalised practical and emotional supports for the farming community.”
About Embrace FARM:
Embrace FARM is Ireland’s only support network for farm families impacted by injury and death.
The network currently provides peer-to-peer and 1:1 practical and emotional support to over 400 farm families.
Husband and wife, Brian and Norma Rohan, founded the not-for-profit organisation in 2014, following the tragic loss of Brian’s father, Liam, in a farming accident.
From the first annual Remembrance Service in 2014, the network has expanded nationwide and evolved its services to meet the needs of Irish farm families in the aftermath of a sudden incident.
The organisation has engaged more than 400 farm families with its comforting and supportive embrace.
Embrace FARM is supported by a voluntary board of directors who give their time freely in the development of the organisation.
It hosted a conference for their Encircle Programme in April. This programme is in conjunction with operational group members IFAC, agricultural solicitors, Agricultural Consultants Association, Rural Support, and the HSE National Office for Suicide Prevention to provide 1:1 practical and emotional supports for farm families in the aftermath of a sudden accident, death, or suspected suicide.
