The Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SVP) received a welcome boost for
its Annual Appeal with an €1 million donation from ESB just before
Christmas.
“It will help make a real and valuable difference to families and
individuals who are struggling in these tough times. It will be used to
provide much needed basics for families to help them get through
Christmas and the remaining winter months,” said Mairead Bushnell, SVP
National President.
“ESB has a long history of working with SVP, with particular focus on
helping and advising consumers on staying well and warm over the winter
months.”
She said that the generous contribution reflects the great response
from the public to the 2010 Annual Appeal.
Calls for assistance to the
SVP this year have increased nationally by 35% and in some areas, calls
to regional offices are up 50%. In this context, she encouraged people
to continue to make much-needed donations as there are so many people in
need throughout the country.
Speaking about ESB’s donation, Liam Molloy, General Manager, ESB
Electric Ireland said, “In view of the particularly challenging times
that families and individuals are dealing with at the moment, ESB is
making an immediate contribution of €1 million to St. Vincent de Paul’s
Annual Appeal to help assist those in need. The current cold weather is
placing extra stress on families, especially so close to Christmas, so
we hope our contribution will provide some
further relief to those most
in need.”
The SVP Annual Appeal had another unusual donation just before
Christmas when toys and children’s presents arrived in Dublin from
students at the Saarland University in Germany.
Over 130 shoeboxes of
toys and gifts were delivered to the SVP National Office in Dublin from
the English Department at the German University.
The students and their Professor, Bert Hornback, were studying the
situation in Ireland and decided to make a contribution to an Irish
charity.
The delivery and collection was sponsored by the Irish-German
Fellowship, Saarland.
The New Year is getting off to a good start with Jam Café Bakery
Deli launching their inaugural 2011 charity calendar, with all proceeds
from sales going to SVP.
The chain has branches in Kenmare, Killarney,
Tralee and Cork
“I hope it will be the first of an annual fund raising project and
that it will win the support of our customers and friends and hopefully
deliver a nice fat cheque to St Vincent de Paul" said James Mulchrone
of Jam.
"We wanted to do something that would have immediate and local
impact. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is always a very worthy
charity and never more so than at this challenging time for everyone in
our community.”
Brendan Dempsey, Cork Regional President, SVP, welcomed the
initiative, in times when people are feeling the pinch and the stress
rates seem much higher.
“The general public and companies have been tremendous, the good will
is so obvious that we can’t remember a time when we received so many
calls offering help in one form or another, its appreciated and every
little helps,” he said.
The Jam Charity Calendars is available from any Jam Café, with a suggested donation of €4.50.
SIC: CIN/IE