Eggs-cellent donations by community of Hacketstown
By Mary Dennehy
A Chocolatey haul of several hundred Easter eggs was collected by Tallaght’s community police this week and safely transported to the local Garda station for distribution to families living in the area.
It’s that time of the year when the community of Hacketstown in Carlow unites for needy families in Tallaght by donating a tasty stash of hundreds of Easter eggs.
For nearly 20 years, the residents of Hacketstown in Carlow have staged a Christmas toy-drive for some of Tallaght’s most needy families, with the caring community also starting an Easter egg collection in recent years.
The toy-drive was originally initiated by former Killinarden priest Fr Jim McCormack, who transferred from Tallaght to Hacketstown nearly two decades ago.
On his arrival to Hacketstown, Fr McCormack made an appeal on behalf of Tallaght’s disadvantaged families to his new parishioners and the annual toy-drive became a tradition – with the bumper Easter egg collection also growing into an annual custom for the Carlow community.
The eggs were collected by members of Tallaght’s community police on Monday and are currently being distributed to local families in need, many of whom the gardai would have come into contact with through their work.
Community police also work alongside Tallaght University Hospital, St Vincent De Paul, Cheeverstown House and local schools in distributing the eggs – which gives the Easter bunny some extra support at a very busy time of the year.
Garda Gary Duffy, Tallaght Community Police, told The Echo: “It really is amazing what the community of Hacketstown does for the Tallaght community.
“These eggs will definitely make a huge difference and help a lot of families who would otherwise be struggling at Easter.
“A huge thank you once again to Hacketstown for their generosity.”
