Community praised for raising €11,000 for VdeP
By Aideen O'Flaherty
A LOCAL conference of poverty charity St Vincent de Paul (SVP), which had been struggling to raise money in the run up to Christmas, has praised the generosity of people who donated to them last month – reaching a total of €11,000.
John Canning from the Kilnamanagh-based St Kevin’s conference of the charity said the €11,000 has been raised through their envelope appeal, and that, in his 26 years of involvement with the conference, they’ve never received such a large number of donations in the space of a month.
John Canning, from St Vincent de Paul
When The Echo spoke to Mr Canning in early December, he explained how the conference was experiencing increased requests for assistance, while their funding was down as their traditional avenues of fundraising couldn’t be pursued.
Their church gate collections, which were typically held every second Sunday, had stopped since March, and due to the pandemic in-person visits to people’s homes had ceased, so the charity needed money for and donations of vouchers, as their ability to deliver donated hampers and toys was limited.
The St Kevin’s conference put 1,500 envelopes appealing for donations into the letterboxes of homes around Kilnamanagh in mid-December, and they received approximately 300 envelopes with donations in return – more than in any previous years.
“In all my wildest dreams, never would I have expected us to receive so many donations,” Mr Canning said when speaking to The Echo this week.
“This year, the envelopes were coming back thick and fast to us. It’s been unbelievable. We’re much healthier now as a conference.”
The boost in funds came as a welcome Christmas present to the conference, and Mr Canning estimates that it will help them to continue supporting those in need for the next four months at least, even after factoring in the cost of the assistance they provided over the Christmas period.
“We’re very thankful for the help from the people who donated,” added Mr Canning.
“We basically need money all the time, we need to be funded all the time, and we always make sure we’re here to help.”
The St Kevin’s conference of SVP helped between 25 and 30 families over the Christmas period.
If people in Kilnamanagh need assistance from SVP, they can leave their name, address and telephone number in an envelope, and put it in the letterbox at the back of St Kevin’s Church.
Similarly, if someone wants to donate to the conference, they can also put their details in the letterbox and they will be contacted.
If you want to get contact details for your local conference of SVP, call the charity’s East Region office on 01 855 0022.
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