A Monaghan start-up jewellery business has come up with a unique way to help mental health charities and provide a little encouragement to anyone who may need it. Launched last week to coincide with Mental Health Week, the "Ring For Hope" is a unisex range of rings designed by OAT jewellery in Mullan. Customers can buy rings and have a customised message of encouragement imprinted on the inside with 100 per cent of profits from Ring of Hope being donated to the Samaritans and SOSAD charities.
Mullan village just outside Emyvale in Monaghan used to be a thriving hub of business but after a boot factory and mill in the area closed down Mullan became virtually derelict. Founders of "Of All Time" Jewellery, Edel and Milke Treanor, set up their business in the old mill to help bring life back to Mullan.
Rebecca Black from OAT told the Joe Finnegan Show, the idea behind the rings is to encourage people to 'ring for hope'- to reach out to loved ones or to these charities when they feel like they need support. "Basically, the main message we're trying to send is just for people to 'ring for hope'," Rebecca told the Joe Finnegan Show, "You know whenever you're feeling down, we all need someone to talk to so, whether it's a family member or a friend we should all ring for hope. Our colleague had suggested that we should do something for mental health week and release a product so, I said it to our jeweller and she came up with the concept of a ring with custom messages of encouragement and we all thought it was a great idea. It resonated with everyone and everyone thought they could get something from having something like that on your person at all times maybe a loved one got for you with a message that they want you to remember."
