Mullingar Lions Club Christmas Appeal this coming weekend
The annual Lions Club Christmas Appeal takes place on Friday and Saturday, December 13 and 14, at Hughes Eurospar on the Green Road and Buckley’s SuperValu on Austin Friars Street from 9am to 8pm. Lions Club members will be in the supermarkets with collection boxes, and people can also tap to donate by card.
The Lions Club Christmas Appeal dates from the 1980s and it remains a central part of the Lions Club Programme, under which clubs throughout the country reach out to the needy in their communities with food and household provisions.
Mullingar Lions Club have been working closely with St Vincent de Paul on the Christmas Appeal in recent years.
Frank Dillon, Lions Club, said working with St Vincent de Paul means no one is excluded, especially important this year with the increased cost of living as more families need support.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Mullingar Lions Club have issued vouchers in place of hampers, which gives people the opportunity to shop and buy what they most need.
Frank said the Family Support Programme, operated by the Lions Club since 2011, continues to support many families and individuals on a weekly basis with fuel, food vouchers, household maintenance and repairs and other various domestic needs. The project operates in tandem with frontline services.
Since 2014, the Lions Club in conjunction with David Smyth Catering provide dinners on Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day for approximately 250 people in the Westmeath area; some are people living on their own who may have no relative to go to; some are families who do no have not the means to provide Christmas dinner.
The generosity and support of David and his staff at such a busy time is monumental and the Lions Club express a heartfelt thanks and appreciation for his work.
In 2023 and 2024, the Lions Club put a major emphasis on providing support and respite care for families of children with additional needs. Frank said that project is going well and the Lions Club are committed to a worthwhile cause that will make the lives of families a little less stressful.
On behalf of Mullingar Lions Club, Frank expressed a huge thank-you to all who support their work and who give generously and with such goodwill, assuring them that their kindness makes a real difference to people experiencing different challenges in the greater Westmeath community.
Support for the summer fundraising projects – the cycling challenge and midsummer ball raised approximately €30,000.
Indicative of that goodwill are the group from Mullingar Harriers who organised a Christmas Wreath Making Workshop on Sunday, December 8 in their clubhouse. People enjoyed making their own wreathes using the fresh materials supplied.
A huge thank you to Santa’s helpers for all their hard work in organising this event – Caroline Mullen, Nuala Moran, Terry Greene, Joanna Tyrrell, Tricia Broderick, Olivia Cooney, Mary Carr, Michelle Kavanagh and Brigid McCabe, said Frank.
“Mullingar Lions Club extend a míle buíochas to all our friends and supporters wishing them a peaceful and happy Christmas and prosperous new year.”