Maria McCarthy from Ardfert is asking people to help the refugees in camps in Greece by donating clothing, bedding material and cash. Photo by Dermot Crean
AN Ardfert woman is helping to organise the clothing, bedding material and most importantly, money, donations all of which will be used to help the refugees crisis in Europe.
Maria McCarthy is on the lookout for as many donations as possible to help out refugee camps in Greece, with all donations of various items welcome and appreciated.
However, due to the expensive cost of the journey involved to Greece to drop off the collected items, Maria and other organisers are asking that if anyone that can give financial aid to their campaign, it would be even more appreciated.
This can be done so through the ‘Help For Humans Go Fund Me’ page HERE, which was set up by Anthony Taylor Smith and his wife Gillian Taylor Smith in Rathmore.
They are currently hoping to raise up to €5000 to help cover the cost of the journey and have at the time of writing so far raised just over €770.
“I have a couple of friends in Rathmore who just decided a couple of weeks ago that they had to do something about this [the refugee crisis], they said they couldn’t just sit back and not do anything. They started Facebook requests for items, just locally really in the community centre in Rathmore,” said Maria when talking to TraleeToday.ie on Friday.
“I saw these then and just started sharing it. I got really great responses from people. It just grew into something much bigger then. We’re looking for tents and sleeping bags, tarpaulins, refuse sacks, men’s clothes, women’s clothes, walking shoes, practical runner, toiletries and warm coats as well as it’s going to be coming into winter soon,” she said.
“At the moment there’s a collection point at the Tralee International Resource Centre (TIRC) in Boherbee, there’s one in the Islamic Outreach Society on Maine Street, just opposite Radio Kerry and since yesterday there’s one in the Abbeydorney pharmacy,” she said.
“We’re going to take as much as we can get and if more people want to offer to drive [to Greece] then that’s great. The funding page is really just for the logistics and we’ve increased the funding amount on that because it’s going to cost an awful lot for us to get to Greece. The money is just paramount to help get us there,” Maria continued.
“People are so generous and willing to help, they’re so desperate to do something especially after seeing the images yesterday of that little boy. I think that people have been really aware of this for a long time and that they are just so hurt by this entire situation and just want to do something about it. People wanted to help people anyway, it’s not just about one image,” she finished.
Maria is also hoping that local musicians might get together to put on a fund raising concert in aid of the appeal.
For that and all extra information people are looking for, please go to the ‘Help For Humans-Kerry Ireland’ Facebook page HERE.
The collection at the TIRC will be taking place on Monday-Thursday 10am-4pm, at the the Kerry Islamic Outreach Society from 11am-1pm on Sundays and Thursdays and at the Abbeydorney Pharmacy from 9am-6pm on Mondays to Saturdays.
Again, funding the trips to Greece is an important factor in this campaign so if anyone wishes to donate anything financially to the mission, they can do so through the fundraising page HERE.
