Manna charity shop offers another way to cut First Holy Communion expense

By Mary Dennehy

NOT every family is in a position, or wants to spend hundreds of euro on Holy Communion outfits, with a community-driven charity shop in Brookfield offering people a fashionable, good quality alternative to the expense and pressure of First Holy Communion.

Grown from grass-roots level, the Manna charity shop in the Brookfield Enterprise Centre was set-up to fund West Tallaght project, PAKT [Parents and Kids Together] – a project started by the YMCA in 1999.

Using a ‘family youth work’ approach, PAKT offers family support through the involvement of adults and children in a range of training programmes and fun activities – with PAKT placing a high value on parents to take ownership of the project through their own involvement in the group.

The welcoming charity shop is run by volunteers and Tus workers, with all money made through the sale of items going back into the community.

Linda Dible, Volunteer Manager with Manna, told The Echo: “We have some beautiful, good quality Communion dresses in stock for between €20 and €30 and some suits for boys.

“The dresses are all good quality and prove that you don’t have to spend hundreds to get that special dress.

“We also have a lot of men’s shirts, slacks and suits in stock as well, so dad can get kitted out for the Communion day too!”

She added: “We have a lovely shop here in Brookfield, with really nice staff who are here to help or have a chat.

“We stock everything from baby items to bric-a-brac, clothes to shoes, CDs to DVDs, Communion outfits to wedding dresses and local school uniforms.

“We also have St Patrick’s Day stock too.

“I don’t think a lot of people know that we’re here and we’d love to encourage more people to drop in for a look around our stock, which is all good quality and being sold to benefit the surrounding community.”

Alongside selling goods, Manna also accepts donations of high quality items, except toys.

Open Monday to Thursdays from 10am to 2pm and Fridays, 10am to 1.30pm, Manna is located in the Brookfield Enterprise Centre and for further information call Linda on 087 2392409.