PDSC fun workout raises more than €2k for St Vincent de Paul

An end of year group workout and raffle by the owners and members of Performance Driven Strength and Conditioning in Mullingar raised more than €2000 for the local St Vincent de Paul, and last week, the funds were handed over.

Martin Shaw visited the gym near the TEG factory in the business park at Clonmore to meet Joey Cleary and Ciara Garvin, owner and director of Performance Driven Strength and Conditioning (PDSC), a popular gym that offers a broad range of classes and sports therapies.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner at PDSC, Martin said: “On behalf of Vincent de Paul, I wanted to thank Joey Cleary and his members for all their work and for collecting so much money for us. It’s a pleasure to do business with them.

“At Vincent de Paul, we helped so many people over Christmas. We went to 400 houses and we gave out 71 bags of food, all thanks to the people of Mullingar – people like Joey and people in all the areas around, the people who give money, and if anybody hasn’t contributed yet, they can still contribute in the shops or leave it in to any of the offices around town.”

Martin said the local volunteers spend a lot of time working with people and helping with food, fuel and rent, in particular – “and sometimes we help people who are badly in need and if the storm has affected anyone, they can contact us”.

He pointed out that help is also available through the Social Welfare Office and those in need should contact the community welfare department as a first step.

“On behalf of Vincent de Paul, I want to thank the people of Mullingar for their contributions, for their kindness and for their help. Without them, we would not be able to do all the work we do.

“If anybody is interested in joining us, ring the number (at vincentdepaul.org) and follow the instructions, and we would be delighted to have them.” Martin also thanked the local Lions Club, as the two charities work together to help those in need in the community.

Joey Cleary said he and Ciara and their membership have raised funds for St Vincent de Paul for several years now, and the event on December 27 last drew a large group from their membership. It was a workout on a fun theme, including Christmas outfits – Joey was dressed as the Grinch – followed by a social gathering and a raffle, for which more people attended, including children, and the total raised was more than €2,000.

Joey and Ciara and supporters are planning another charity fundraiser for next month, a hike on the Stairway to Heaven walk in County Fermanagh; more details in a future edition of the Examiner, or contact them at the gym.

Number of households assisted up by fifth at Christmas 2024

The number of households the local St Vincent de Paul helped at Christmas 2024 was more than a fifth higher than the number in 2023, Martin Shaw told the Westmeath Examiner at the cheque handover in PDSC on Friday.

He said fuel and food are the two areas that most concern people, and, reiterating his thanks for the work that people like Joey Cleary and Ciaran Garvin do for the charity, he made the point that it is often people who are just below the threshold for state help who are in most difficulty.

“They can fall into poverty very quickly, because they have no back-up,” said Martin; “they are outside the cut-off for a fuel allowance and those supports – they’re just above and they get caught that way.

“They’re the people that might need help, and we would appeal to them, that if they do need help, ‘please do not hesitate to ring’, because they’re actually the people who won’t ring.” Martin finished by repeating, on behalf of the local St Vincent de Paul, his thanks to “the people of Mullingar for all their help”.