Frank marks 10 years with animal charity fundraiser

Jessica Thompson

It is 10 years since Frank Meredith, The Coffee Man, moved his van to Clonmore Industrial Estate and, to celebrate a decade of serving the locals coffee and freshly made sandwiches, he and his wife, Jane, held a special coffee morning to raise funds for local animal welfare charities, last Wednesday.

A number of Frank’s customers are volunteers, rehabilitating and fostering rescued dogs, and ensuring the colony of stray cats in the industrial estate are all spayed and neutered to keep the population under control.

“A lot of these ladies are looking after the cats down here, getting them neutered and releasing them, again,” Frank told the Westmeath Examiner last Wednesday.

“There’s a few recycling yards here, and there are plenty of cats, so rather than have an influx of them, the ladies catch them, take them and then they get them neutered and doctored and released again.”

One of Frank’s regular customers is Maeve O’Donoghue who, along with some other local volunteers, helps to catch and care for stray animals. There are a number of ladies, she said, who call up to the industrial estate every evening, “hail, rain or snow and Christmas day” – to feed the cats.

“There’s colonies of cats living up here. We trapped them all, got them all neutered, brought them back and they’re all still here. It’ll just stop the cycle of kittens,” said Maeve.

“They get killed up here as well because of all the heavy traffic.”

The local animal enthusiasts often rehome dogs for members of the public too, including puppies or lost dogs that are found straying.

Some of those rescues end up with Mary Gavin at Midlands Pet Sitting, where they’re looked after until they can find a forever home.

“Nearly all the time we have one there,” Mary said, introducing her foster dog, Forest, a French Bulldog who was recently found in Tyrrellspass, abandoned with his harness embedded into him.

“I brought him down to the vets and they sorted him out, but he was terrible and all infected and smelly,” she said.

“He had fleas and was really badly underweight and he was just let out on the road. He was microchipped but not registered and no owner came forward.

He did his pound time, but nobody came looking for him.”

Mary named the friendly Frenchie Forest because he was found at New Forest in Tyrrellspass and, despite his horrific injuries and his poor state when he was found, Forest is doing well, and loves people.

“There’s a big vet bill owed for him in the vets, so we’re trying to raise funds for him. A lot of what’s raised today will go towards his bill because he was treated out of hours when he was brought to me. I couldn’t leave him the way he was.”

“There’ve been a lot of lost dogs,” Maeve added, “We’ve got our own dog trap between us and we’ve helped trap people’s dogs. When people let them out, it’s alright because they’re friendly, but sometimes they’re gone wild in a few days, so we have to trap them.

“That takes a lot of time and a lot of dedication and checking in every couple of hours. Again, the women are great, they live in town.

“It’s great to see Frank doing this today. He feeds the whole industrial estate, including myself, because I only work around the corner.”

Nollaig Mahon, another regular customer of Frank’s, showed up last Wednesday morning with her dog Bella, who was taken out of a bad situation in Kinnegad, along with two puppies and their father.

And, while Nollaig initially planned to temporarily foster Bella, she fell in love with her and gave her a permanent, loving home.

These are the success stories Frank and Jane wanted to support with their charity coffee morning and every donation was appreciated.

“I just want to say thanks to everybody for donating. Everything is going to charity,” he said, tapping the large donations box on the counter. “It’ll help pay the bills for injuries to those dogs and cats.”

A total of €1,168 was raised on Wednesday alone, and people continued to donate in the days afterwards.