Spreading good will and hampers!

The Cork, Kilkenny, Tralee and Waterford churches, together with the Irish Mission, united to bring some happiness to those less fortunate in their communities last Christmas. On Saturday 12October 2019, the four churches started collecting money towards the hampers.

The Cork church has a good relationship with Penny Dinners, a canteen for homeless people in Cork. Penny Dinners were happy to deliver Shoe Boxes to homeless kids. Each Shoe box cost 20 euro. Depending on the age and gender, the Shoe Box contained items for babies like baby vests, baby hat, baby wipes or for the older kids’ things like a T-shirt, gloves, and toiletries.

It was not as easy to find an organisation in Kilkenny, Tralee and Waterford to partner with, as the churches there did not have relationships with any organisations. With God’s leading, we approached an organisation called Focus Ireland. Focus Ireland works around the country and had a project to prepare Family Festive Hampers for distribution. The hamper included Christmas biscuit selections, Christmas Pudding, Mince Pies, and other festive goodies. When we meet with them, we knew straight away that we could work well together. They provided us with lists of homeless people and families living in Cork, Kilkenny and Waterford.

We still needed an organisation to work with in Tralee. Again, God opened doors and our sister Zodwa Lenihan was able to find an organisation called Novas based in Tralee. Novas looks after homeless women there. Finally, we had everything needed for our initiative: organisations to work with, and people to help.

All four churches worked very hard. With every single member enthusiastically participating. We all received so many blessings during this time. God blessed the enormous effort of the churches. We were all able to do official hand over shoe boxes/ family hampers to Penny Dinners in Cork, Focus Ireland in Cork and in Kilkenny, Dungarvan Housing Project under umbrella of Focus Ireland in Waterford, and to Novas in Tralee.

Are you interested in numbers? In 2018 we were able to serve 100 kids through this initiative in Cork. In 2019 we were able to support almost 270 people, including kids, across Cork, Tralee, Kilkenny and Waterford. We have delivered more than 190 Shoe Boxes / Family Hampers to people in need. What do you say? AMEN

Do you want to join us for next projects? Come on board. We will be there with our best manager in charge, our Heavenly Father. He is always in control and always provides for His children. It is such a privilege and blessing to let Him use us to share goodwill to others in our communities.