Hacketstown Easter Eggs will benefit local families
By Mary Dennehy
A TASTY stash of several hundred Easter eggs was this week escorted safely to Tallaght by community police, with the chocolatey hoard now being delivered to needy families living in Dublin 24.
For close on 25 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.
Egg-citing: Sgt Mark Redmond with community police Gda Lisa Finn, Gda Roisin Maguire and Gda Pat Courtney with the eggs in Tallaght Garda Station
The toy-drive was originally started by former Killinarden priest Father Jim McCormack, who transferred from Tallaght to Hacketstown more than two decades ago.
On his arrival to Hacketstown, Father McCormack made an appeal on behalf of Tallaght’s needy 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.
On Wednesday of this week, members of Tallaght’s community police collected the Easter eggs and escorted them safely back to Tallaght.
The eggs will now be distributed to local families in need, many of whom community police have come into contact with through their work.
Speaking with The Echo as they arrived in Tallaght with the Easter egg stash, community Garda Gary Duffy said: “Once again, the parish of Hacketstown has donated several hundred eggs.
Thank you
“A very big thank-you to them, they’re a great community and the gesture is very much appreciated by us and the community of Tallaght.”
He added: “We’ll start delivering the eggs to families who we have come into contact with and we’ll also be contacting local St Vincent de Paul reps, Tallaght Hospital and other community organisations.
“A lot of families are still struggling despite the ‘recovery’ and these eggs will really help them and make a huge difference to them this Easter.”
