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Launching ‘Caring for Christmas’ were from left Sarah Ryall, Grainne Landers, Michelle Brule, Gillian Wharton-Slattery and Rizwan Khan. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.
A GROUP of locals have come together to form a charity initiative called ‘Caring for Christmas’ which hopes to give a boost to three vital services in Tralee over Christmas, by organising a charity drop-off day.
The three services that are being reached out to are, Adapt, Kerry women’s refuge, Arlington Lodge Homeless Centre and Baile Mhuire day care for the elderly.
‘Caring for Christmas’ are asking the public to donate, toys, toiletries, hats, socks and gloves, but no other clothing items.
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Because of the small number of volunteers, sorting through clothing would be too much of an undertaking.
The donation day is this Wednesday 9:30am and 5:00pm.
Items can be dropped off at the Bridge Street entrance at the side of the Yummy Cafe. The door will be open all day for people to drop off their goods.
“The generosity is always huge in Tralee,” said volunteer, Gillain Wharton-Slattery.
“It’s an opportunity for people who can’t get involved in groups to give a little something to those less well off. Sadly because of the society we live in, no matter happens, we will always have people who will need these services,” she said.
‘Caring for Christmas’ is a follow on project for many of those who were involved in the very successful recent collection for refugees coming to Europe.
“When we were collecting for the Syrian Refugee Fund, around that time we got a lot of feedback from the public about looking after local charities, so we are just feeding a need that was made known to us,” said Gillian.
