Cork boy creates game to connect with ill sister; now raising funds for charity 

A CORK secondary school student has raised over €1,500 for two charities after setting up a creative craft business called Pom Pom Pals.

Noah O’Shea, who attends St Brogan’s College in Bandon, and his classmates raised the funds for Crumlin Children’s Hospital and the Irish Red Cross following their enterprising mini-company project.

Noah, 13, who hails from Ballineen, will represent the region in the Junior category at the upcoming Student Enterprise finals in May.

A game to play with sister Louisa

He began creating Pom Pom Pals to connect with and entertain his sister when she was up and down to Crumlin Children’s Hospital in Dublin four years ago.

He has subsequently made his pastime a business to give back to the place that helped his sister get better again.

Noah said: “I started to make these little guys when my sister Louisa was up and down to Crumlin, and I would make them with her to cheer her up.

“We started to give them their own personalities and play with them for hours. When the opportunity came to set up a business for the Student Enterprise Programme my mother suggested that I should turn my hobby into a business.

“At Christmas time I made robins and at other times of the year, I make a variety of characters such as chicks for Easter. They can be bought finished, or you can stick your own expressions on them yourself too which has been really popular,” he added.

Since establishing the business Noah has packaged his pals off all over the country and given them as gifts to well-known Cork personalities, including Rob Heffernan and Phil Healy.

Noah pivoted his business last month and made little pals in Ukrainian colours to raise money for the Irish Red Cross by selling them in O’Donovan’s Centra in Enniskeane. To date, he has raised over €1,400 for the Red Cross Ukraine appeal.

The Pom Pom Pals are available to order through their official Facebook page.